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The luxury of handcrafted: Crafting book treasures

From journals to artists’ books, Radhi Parekh talks to Avril-Ann Braganza about the world of handmade books

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A karigar sits in his workshop, meticulously working with his hands until he finally holds a work of art. It’s not just a beautifully woven saree or a stunning piece of jewellery, it’s a product of labour, love and dedication.


Images of exquisite jewellery, Patan Patolas or Benaras weaves, come to mind when we think of handcrafted. But let’s not forget books! Very early on, “Jain manuscripts were painted on, on handmade paper. Thin slats of wood that were painted became the top and bottom of the manuscript,” shares Radhi Parekh, founder of Artisans at Kala Ghoda, Mumbai. Other than wooden slats, palm leaf covers were used in India, while leather-bound, gilded books with intricate tooling was popular in the West.


What makes it handcrafted?

The creation of the book—the making of the spine, the cover, fixing of the end paper that connects the book to the cover, the scoring, the folding—is all done by hand. The key stage in the making of a book is what holds it together—the spine. While there are techniques aplenty, today one can also find accordion-folded books as well as some, where rubber bands are used (instead of stitching) to hold a few booklets together, which in turn is joined to the cover with an elastic cord, instead of the end paper. While using handmade and hand-cut paper elevates the value of the book, recycled as well as machine-cut paper is also widely used today.


Materials used

Going back to Medieval times in Europe, the Book of Hours and the Bible were hand-calligraphed on vellum, instead of paper. Palm leaf, papyrus and of course handmade paper (particularly in India) were used for the inside. 


Handmade books have evolved and now unusual materials are also being used. “When it comes to materials for the cover, it’s all up to peoples’ imagination; a lot of recycled materials like rubber, khadi, silk, felt, cuts of leather, or cardboard are being used. You can have a hard-bound cloth-covered book, cloth fused with handmade paper, cardboard covers with an exposed spine, embroidered covers and ones that are inspired by traditional accountants’ books with a tie-up... the list is endless; it all depends on the innovation of the designer or the artisan. Since it’s done in limited numbers and is not mass produced, it’s a great opportunity to use different materials,” shares Radhi.

 

The beauty of handcrafted

You just need to open up the middle of the spine and you’ll see the hand-sewn stitches. There’ll be imperfections, of course—uneven stitching holes and the end paper may not be perfectly straight—the fruit of meticulous labour, time, skill and love.


While the time taken to make a journal would depend on the technique, it could take approximately half a day using standard techniques. Taking into account the time needed to make the paper, the process would be slightly longer—perhaps three days. Enhancements on the cover—hand embroidery for instance—would require a day or two more. 


“While creating handcrafted books is a specialised skill, it’s not like block printing, which is really difficult to master. Most graphic design students, at least in the past, went through a week of bookmaking so they understand the structure of a book and what they’re designing for,” Radhi tells us.


Artists’ Books

 

Artists and designers have elevated the idea of handmade and artists’ books to limited-edition works of art. Designers, illustrators and calligraphers are now using limited-edition handmade books as their medium of expression. “With technology taking over, the question to ask is ‘how many people will use a journal to jot down their stories? It is the challenge of the market and consumer and that’s why the artist book becomes important; it becomes a means of expression and self publishing,” says Radhi. While natural-dyed inks and paints were used in old Jain manuscripts and it would have taken years for calligraphers to work on the text and the beautiful hand-painted wooden covers, today hand-done screen printing or offset printing is used. Somewhere between a one-off book, a limited-edition book and mass-produced books, these artists’ books are numbered, signed and come in limited pieces of 350, 3,000 and so on, becoming collectors’ items.


 

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