A Passion for Handmade Books / Bookbinding

Have you ever wondered what makes a One of a Kind truly one of a kind?

A look at a master bookbinder's intimate workshop inside one of New York City's most prestigious hotels.

Bookbinding and restoration is a skill that takes patience and an acute attention to detail. This work is a beautiful example of how a damaged piece of literature can be revived.

The production of books is often overlooked. More often then not it's the words on the page that we focus on. But how a book is made can be just as beautiful as the stories written upon it's pages.

We love the journals that we make here. We also love seeing what people use them for and can create with them, almost as much as making them. 

Binding a book is one of those beautifully mesmerizing things to watch, it's almost a meditative experience. This video is definitely no exception. The way the hands move over the paper and the way the needle pulls the thread through the paper is like an elegant dance.

Siuyuett (Teresa Tsang) sees book-binding as a way to untangle the knots in her mind where memories and emotions intertwine. Soothing and warming the cloth case is to the hands as the process to the soul.

Bookbinding is a craft that requires skill and technique. Beautiful designs can be created on books by those who possess these skills. These are the works of some very talented bookbinders from Spain.

Benjamin Elbel runs elbel libro bookbinding, a London-based business offering bookbinding services, stationery products and products for bookbinders. Benjamin is a busy bookbinding instructor in the UK, Europe (also Holland at Boekbinderij Wilgenkamp) and the USA.

At Arion Press, they do things the old school way, making books that act as a tribute to the author. These books will last for generations. Watch as Anthony Bourdain gets an inside look into this process.

For the last couple weeks we had the pleasure of  having an intern, Carly, working and learning how we do things here at Jenni Bick Bookbinding. Today is her last day and she must've learned a ton because she handmade some adorable notebook necklaces for all of us.