The work on display will include hand-bound notebooks, albums and miniature books. All pieces are handmade combining traditional bookbinding skills with paper making, letterpress printing and calligraphy. They are characterised by details such as textured paper, exposed bindings and the imperfect beauty of wood type printing and hand lettering, complemented by soft, muted colours and vintage prints.
Each item has its own story, of how it was imagined and created, and is designed to inspire you to tell your own.
I am a calligrapher and bookbinder based in Oxford. I create stationery inspired by the history of books and writing and the magic of storytelling. I also partner with a glassblower in Sweden to offer custom messages in a bottle, and take commissions for both calligraphy pieces and bespoke hand-bound books.
I have always been drawn to paper, ink, books and stories, but only came slowly to creativity, experimenting first with printing, then calligraphy, and finally bookbinding and paper making. With a background in historic conservation, my work is rooted in a fascination with the layers of history around me: in the buildings of my adopted hometown of Oxford, the traditional crafts I practise, and the memories and stories that feed my imagination.
Making is how I escape, and how I dream. It is how I reconnect with a childhood magic of tales and make-believe, through the real-life alchemy of turning pulp into paper, paper into books, and ink into words – all to create beautiful objects that tell and inspire stories.