Kaitlin Barber

Sunday, 13 November 2016

This week I had the exciting opportunity to visit The The Wyvern Bindery and meet with the owner Mark Winstanley. The Wyvern specializes in bespoke books, boxes and portfolios as well as book restoration and repair services. Located in the heart of London’s traditional printing and bookbinding district, the space is filled with exciting projects, traditional/modern materials and tools and a wonderfully knowledgeable staff. The bindery’s clients range, from personal collectors and antiquarian book dealers to creating props for movies including Game Of Thrones and Harry Potter. Mark trained at the London College of Printing and his enthusiasm for books is inspiring and contagious. My favourite book in the bindery was a ledger with brass edging at the head and tail that weighted almost more than I could lift! I look forward to returning in the future and seeing the exciting and interesting projects The Wyvern Bindery is working on.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Kaitlin Barber

Kaitlin is a bookbinder and book artist from Toronto Canada. She is currently working as the first Artist in Residence at Studio 5 in London completing a miniature book commission for the collection of Neale Albert. She has a deep appreciation for the all-encompassing nature of the art of the hand-made book. The artist is in total control of every aspect of the work creating interplay between concept, text, and image. Cover design, hand printed endpapers, and content come together forming a narrative, influenced by the text, but going far beyond. After studying graphic design and printmaking at The Ontario College of Art and Design Kaitlin completed The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild Diploma program gaining an introduction to the fundamentals of book construction. She is a recent graduate of the two-year bookbinding program at The North Bennet Street School in Boston, Massachusetts. Kaitlin has held conservation internships in the Rare Books departments of The Boston Public Library and New York Academy of Medicine. In 2016 she was awarded the Nell Meldahl Work-Study Scholarship for Paper & Book Intensive in The United States. In 2016 she traveled to London to study contemporary design binding at Studio 5 with internationally recognized and exhibited Mark Cockram. During this time she bound submissions to the International and UK Designer Bookbinder competitions. Mark is the inventor of many proprietary techniques in book construction, decorative techniques and creative problem solving. Studying with Mark has opened Kaitlins eyes to the immense variety of ways in which colour, texture, and materials can be used to achieve flow throughout the work, creating a rich experience that is both visual and tactile.