Islamic Bookbinding Class with Yasmeen Khan
I took an Islamic Bookbinding course with Yasmeen Khan near Washington D.C. at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. It was fantastic! And quite busy! :) Here's a bit about what we learned in class:
My teacher explained that the term Islamic Bookbinding is used in the same way one might use the term Western or European Bookbinding. It is a general way to categorize books whose style originated in the Middle East. With Western Bookbinding, the focus is on the internal structure. They were meant to be structural sound things and the design elements were secondary. The style is very exacting. With Islamic Bookbinding, the focus is more on the design elements. Precision was not so important for a couple reasons. Binders of that day did not have the heavy machinery and complex tools we use today for bookbinding. Also, the idea is that only God is perfect, so nothing we make can be. The specific type we learned in the class was used by Moroccan publishers back in the day for its simplicity in structure (the books had to be sewn quickly). These books opened from the opposite direction that books are opened in the west, but I have oriented mine in the western sense so I can use it to write in. The triangular flap is traditionally held folded back to aid the reader in reading. I was able to learn some gold-foil hot tooling and create a simple design on the spine and cover. Yasmeen also had a large stamp that was cold-pressed into the center of both covers.