{"id":9772,"date":"2015-07-01T01:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=9772"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:47:32","slug":"july-bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/01\/july-bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel\/","title":{"rendered":"July \/\/ Bookbinder of the Month: Ben Elbel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BovenKamer1-BenElbel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Boven Kamers\u00a0<\/em>is a collaborative Dutch pop-up book between neuroscientist Gerard J. Boer, professor Harry B.M. Uijlings, paper artist Ingrid Siliakus and graphic designer\u00a0Moon Brouwer<\/a>. The book contains a total of six laser cut pop-up spreads which send the reader on a tour through the human brain and its functions.\u00a0Printed in a limited edition of 50, each book is numbered and signed.<\/p>\n

Ben Elbel<\/a>‘s innovative rebinding of this book was just completed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

I have been waiting in anticipation to see this binding after you spoke to me about it. In your newsletter on this binding, you mention that the compensation folios are sewn together. The spine opens to a sharp \u2018V\u2019 allowing the pages to lay flat, can you elaborate on the sewing structure and any treatment done to the spine?
\n<\/strong>Boven Kamers<\/em> (literally means\u00a0upper rooms<\/em> in Dutch, a colloquial expression meaning brain<\/em>), is an exploration of the human brain in the form of a pop up book, by the young Dutch designer and publisher Moon Brouwer.<\/p>\n

I was commissioned to re-bind the book by the Dutch Royal Library<\/a> (The Hague).<\/p>\n

When I first received it, the book presented itself as a series of folios laminated with one another, each folio containing a pop up. A hard cover was provided but disconnected from the textblock.<\/p>\n

Technically, the challenge was to provide compensation for the pop-ups as well as a perfectly flat surface for them to smoothly unfold, all of this without sewing and without introducing blank pages between the folios.<\/p>\n

After some research I concluded that none of the existing binding structures (traditional or contemporary) were quite suitable to do all this, so I created a new one from scratch.
\n<\/a>
\n\"BovenKamer7-BenElbel\"<\/a>\"BovenKamer4-BenElbel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It took about a year and the result is a series of ‘T’ elements made from heavy paper, sewn with one another. The folios are inserted between each T and secured only at the fore-edge. On the next images one can see how the spread ‘floats’ on top of the binding, allowing the pop up to fully unfold. The original cover was mounted at the back of the book and a lettering was created, on the spine and front board, to evoke a kind of staircase leading to the upper rooms<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"BovenKamer6-BenElbel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can read a bit more about the binding and see some images of the book at various stages through the design process here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Ben and I have kept in contact\u00a0ever since he embarked on offering online courses (more on that in the interview). His work and business ethic are quite inspiring as Elbel Libro has expanded beyond the traditional bindery. He ceases to amaze me with his sleek designs and innovative binding structures. There seems to be no stopping\u00a0his creativity.<\/p>\n

Check out the interview after the jump and make sure you come back during the month of July for even more probing questions regarding a selection of Ben’s work. You can get email reminders by subscribing to the blog, just click\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start at the beginning, where did your interest in bookbinding start and what type of training did you receive?<\/strong>
\nMy first contact with bookbinding was an introductory\u00a0course that was part of my training as an illustration student in Strasbourg (France). It was basic but enough to quickly turn me into a keen adept! While still an illustration student I took further training at the city archive where the head of conservation, Bernard Santoni, kindly agreed to let me come in once a week for a year to give me private lessons.<\/p>\n

In 2007, I graduated from art school and briefly attempted \u2014not very successfully\u2014 to earn a living from my drawings. At this point, despite my near addiction to it, I hadn’t yet considered bookbinding as a career. It was my Dad’s suggestion and also his idea that I should get further education, and so I went to\u00a0the Centro del bel Libro<\/a> in Ascona, Switzerland. I studied\u00a0there for a year, taking\u00a0various practical and theoretical classes on conservation with Henrik Roerig, bookbinding with Edwin Heim and specific subjects with guest teachers such as Hedi Kyle, Markus Janssens and Barbara Hassel.<\/p>\n

After Ascona I moved to Germany to work at ‘Die Buchmanufaktur’ run by Claudia Flade. Then two years later to London where I worked for another 3 years at Shepherds Bookbinders<\/a> and briefly at Book Works<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And since then I have been self employed, I receive training every day from working for my clients!<\/p>\n

Can you describe your business and what type of services you offer? How has your training and prior experiences shaped your business?<\/strong>
\nI work with my girlfriend Kieke and we offer bookbinding services and resources to other binders.<\/p>\n

When discussing a job with a customer, there are certain specs that are being agreed on, such as sizes, material, colours, etc. But there is also a fair amount of choices that are usually left to the binder such as board thickness, board quality, width of squares, the way to tuck in a corner, etc. These details are not immediately visible, but they are where the devil really lies and constitute the ‘touch’ of a binder. The touch is something very personal. It is the sum of a binder’s training and prior experiences, but also his\/her personality, and is something that can make a real difference. I like to think that people use me because I am able to do what they need, that I strive to do it on time and at a reasonable price, but also because they like my touch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I’m happy when I get some really tricky stuff such as complicated boxes or a very challenging pop-up book, but I also enjoy simple binding jobs from time to time or volume work (ex: menus) where the challenge is to devise processes to accelerate the production. For this it really helps to have worked for commercial binderies in various countries and collected precious tricks of the trade.<\/p>\n

The second half of what we do at Elbel Libro<\/a> is helping other people live their passion for bookbinding by offering workshops and a number of resources and products available through our online shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n