Books: Art, Craft & Community

Books are a meeting place. A sum of their many parts and artistic approaches. Form, concept, material, and craft are bound together to create something rooted in its functionality; a process that often crosses over into the messier realm of art.

Books. Art, Craft & Community presents a thriving ecosystem of papermakers, printers, bookbinders, artists, designers, and publishers from around the world. They draw on traditional skills, art, and experimentation to make books that matter today. With over 30 profiles – spanning traditional craftspeople, to modern makers reimagining the book for new audiences – and contributions from experts, we are given an insight into the history and contemporary context of the processes behind the books.

Selected by Simon Goode and Ira Yonemura of the London Centre for Book Arts, these artists and makers share a spirit of curiosity and resilience. They not only adapt to new ways that readers engage with books, but are forging new possibilities for their craft along the way.

London Centre for Book Arts is an artist-run, open-access studio for all things books. A community of artists, designers, and makers sharing resources, ideas, and skills. The studio comprises of a working printshop and bindery with an extensive collection of specialist equipment, along with a unique research library and bookshop. Based in what was once the heart of east London’s print industry, LCBA was established by Simon Goode and Ira Yonemura in 2012, becoming the first and only centre of its kind in the UK.