#bookbinding competition

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Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition 2017: Heroic Works - My Entry [Book of Coma]

I remembered very well the whole process of looking for the ideal book for the theme of “Myths, Legends and Heroes” for the Designer Bookbinders International Competition last year. I wanted something that was unique and was never produced before and not something that we are all so familiar with. I approached Michelle Yu from The Gentlemen’s Press and asked if we could collaborate and create a book for this competition. Michelle showed me the original drawings for Book of Coma and I was really excited. 

Though it looks like a normal accordion or Concertina book, it works as a side-to-side codex which allows you to look at the book in a linear way through the concertina, or scene by scene which is connected in the centre. Michelle did a wonderful job making sure that in both ways, the illustrations are seamlessly connected and creating 2 narratives.

I just received my certificate just this week, and the book was chosen for the touring exhibition in UK and probably in Europe too. It is featured in the catalogue among many other wonderful bookbinders from around the world. It is quite an achievement for me because back in year 2013, when I first started training to be a fine binder, I told myself that I will make it a point to be in every single catalogue hence forth, and maybe evetually win a prize. Looking forward to the next competition in 2021. 

I will be posting up a small animated clip of how the book works in the codex method.

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Great way to end 2016: Among the stars

Just slightly before Christmas, in the early wee hours of the morning, I received an email from Lang, the organiser for the Open•Set Bookbinding Competition in United States of America. It was probably a shock, because at first I thought I received a blank email by mistake, but when I woke to more sense, I scrolled down to see a PDF attachment waiting to be read. This is the greatest news of 2016.

I am so happy, thrilled, overjoyed, elated and many other words to describe how I feel to be among the stars of bookbinders, to receive my first ever award in an international competition. That joy of seeing my name amongst the very best has given me not only affirmation that I am doing something good, but also a massive push to do better. This is the first time a Singaporean bookbinder is seen on an international level, prized and exhibited with the best around the world. 

About the binding:

This is the Set book, which all participants are supplied with in sheets, folded into signatures. For this inaugural competition held by American Academy of Bookbinding, Inside The Book by David Esslemont, was chosen. 

This book caused me quite a bit of duress, it being the first book I started working on, but ended up being the last book to be finished. There were lots of accidents, including making a huge hole in the original leather that I intended to use. However, it was due to that “accident” that led to this design opportunity. And that it was also due to my lack of material supplies here in Singapore, that made me very creatively desperate to use what I have. I almost did not finish this book on time and nearly gave up without submitting for this competition. Of course, it was very generous of my tutor, Mark Cockram, to “hold my hand” and reassure me with guidance, advice and encouragement through Facebook messages, that gave me the courage to finish this binding. 

Inside the Book was bound using an unsupported link stitch, full laminated linen board attachment with secondary sewing. Using a typographic design element and interlocking 2 concepts: the use of X-ray to look inside the book; and the 3 primary colours of red, blue and yellow, merging to form the colours of rainbow. 

It is covered in Japanese Awagami Washi papers, airbrushed with acrylic paints and an underlay of acetate letters to form the title. The title is inside the covering to emphasize that it is "inside the book".  The edges are airbrushed with rainbow colours created using the 3 basic colours; red, blue and yellow. Hand sewn Japanese silk endbands in random colours to match the randomness of the edges. The endpapers are leather-jointed, using alternating colours with the suede doublures. The endpapers were created using airbrush on a digital print to represent X-ray films to seemingly “see” through into the book.