Elize de Beer is the owner and founder of EDB Studios and is a bookbinder with a background in book and paper conservation.<\/p>\n
The bindery specialises in custom, small-run special editions, artist books, and enclosures.<\/p>\n
Originally from South Africa, she now lives in Crosshaven, Co Cork.<\/p>\n
What sparked your interest in bookbinding?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always loved books in general, and I also love making and collecting them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I started to figure out that this was something I could just make and I was so curious to see their construction.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m predominantly self-taught; over time, I just learned more and more of the processes.<\/p>\n
I also apprenticed at a conservation bindery, so a lot of my formal training was around conservation and repair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n I think that\u2019s also why the books that I make now are still very traditional. They\u2019re made very much with conservation materials in mind.\n <\/p>\n
As I was making more books, more people were asking me for them. From there, I thought, why not actually just make this a business?<\/p>\n
It started off with making notebooks, and then I transitioned into making special edition books for authors that were self-publishing, special edition artist books, and things like that.<\/p>\n
Making collectible items is where I am now at the moment. I love making traditional books because I know that they\u2019ll last.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m so rough with my books but I know if I\u2019ve hand-sewn something, it\u2019s a centuries-old technique and it\u2019s going to hold up to me throwing it in my bag every day. I want these objects to be used.<\/p>\n
My favourite thing is seeing people purchase my notebooks or any of my books and that they\u2019re being used.<\/p>\n
What does your work involve?<\/p>\n
On a typical day, I start by making sure I have my orders for the week. I work in batches. So depending on the day, I\u2019m either sewing, or making covers, or box-making.<\/p>\n
My favourite part is getting stuck into the big batch part of it, I play a podcast or listen to an audiobook, and get lost in the meditative process of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the end of the week, it\u2019s very satisfying having the final books done.<\/p>\n
What do you like most about it?<\/p>\n
I really love the process. When it comes to making books, I find that because I use such a traditional technique, there\u2019s no real way to speed it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are, of course, machines we can use, but there\u2019s something way more special about working with something that is handmade.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about the satisfaction at the end when you have gone through this laborious process, and you are holding the physical thing in your hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You know the work \u2014 the sewing, the glueing, the colour choice \u2014 that has gone into this simple, quiet, unassuming object.<\/p>\n
What do you like least about it?<\/p>\n
Often, if you\u2019re making 200 books, I think by number 100, you\u2019re a little mad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to see the end point sometimes, and you just have to push through.<\/p>\n
Also, the emails and communication part, as I wish I could just be making all day.<\/p>\n
Three desert island books<\/p>\n
\n The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; it is still one of my favourite stories.<\/p>\n
Then I have this book in my collection called This Book is a Planetarium, it\u2019s a pop-up book by Kelli Anderson, and it has all these different elements, so I just get lost in it.<\/p>\n
My third pick would be one I read recently, Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent. Fantasy is still my favourite genre to read, and it\u2019s such a beautiful story, I can read it again and again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elize de Beer is the owner and founder of EDB Studios and is a bookbinder with a background…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[10112,3444,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-107613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books-features-and-news","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114520252260422435","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}