The Idle Bindery

Discover The Idle Bindery hand bound wedding albums, notebooks and art prints

The Idle Bindery is a culmination of a life-long love of illustration, story-telling and the book as a physical form.

I have always been an avid reader and artist, so it seemed natural to seek out a course of study that would combine my two passions.

My art foundation course gave me the wonderful freedom to explore and experiment with media and I was quickly drawn into the dark room. With a small class and no one else sharing an interest in photography, I had the space to myself. Inspired by early glass negatives, I developed a way of creating my own through smoke and with a simple needle as my pen. For my final show I set about binding these images into a book – a series of illustrations by one of my favourite novels, Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’, using a basic Japanese stab binding pattern and dental floss.

I soon progressed to using traditional linen thread and throughout my Illustration degree I found binding my projects as fascinating and engrossing as creating the actual artwork. Sourcing the right paper, choosing the book cloth and stitching the final pages is an intuitive, artistic process that I find incredibly rewarding.

The Idle Bindery photgraph albums
Browse our Etsy shop

My particular interest in photograph albums came about from simple lack of availability. I wanted a high quality album and found myself disappointed and uninspired by what was on offer. I decided to make one from scratch and the following year I opened up The Idle Bindery, selling photo albums and Giclée prints of my art (though I have since separated the two). In a way I have gone full circle, creating something that ties back to my old love of the dark room. There’s something very emotive about an old photograph, the story a captured moment can evoke. In this increasingly digital age I feel there’s something quite special about a hand made album and printed photographs that can be held. Something to treasure and share with others.

I love creating with my own hands, using techniques and methods that have been perfected over hundreds of years of binding and exploring new ways to bind pages together. My aim is always to create beautiful but functional books. I hope you’ll love the albums I create.

Find more artists and print makers

I hope you enjoy discovering The Idle Bindery. Find more artists and print makers in the From Britain with Love directory: https://www.frombritainwithlove.com/listing/category/british-artists/

^{This listing contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our blog posts are independent and in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set.}