The manual, intimate art of binding books by hand has long been replaced by machines that can fully automate the process, and at way faster rates too. Why spend so much time and effort gently sewing or gluing stacks of papers together when factories can bind books by the dozens and spew them out lickety-split?
But that isn’t so for Adelene Koh. Trained in London and Japan, the founder of fine bookbinding firm dddots is one of the few — if not only — local hand bookbinders in the country. Like letterpress printer Michelle Yu of The Gentlemen’s Press, she believes that techniques of old still have an important place in modern society.
“Making books is an art. Nothing beats holding a book in your hand, feeling its cover, turning its pages and even smelling the paper,” says Koh, whose works have been exhibited both here and internationally.
“When you have a book that is handmade, you know that you are holding something that is made, with heart and soul, by a bookbinder.”
Watch the short documentary on her passion behind the lost art, shot beautifully by Another Beautiful Story.
