Living Iron is in production. My bookbinder’s heart is excited: ten years after A Resistible Force I am going from the printing press to the binder’s workshop. The scale and speed of industrial book manufacture cannot be compared to…
Read moreThese days I’m reading about the use of iron in early architecture, especially since a group of researchers has found a way to reveal the DNA of ancient pieces of iron, so to speak, in fact a digital identity, by analysing their inner, grainy structure. This has given…
Read moreThe theme of imagination and play has not left me in the past weeks, as illustrated by hospital drawings, among others, which seem to have worried some of my friends recently. Sitting with the family around a Christmas fireplace, we discuss once…
Read moreFollowing my previous blog post, one of my other favourite artists is Roland Roure. He may be less famous than Alexander Calder, but he is equally fond of wire, ‘junk’ and, most important: play. His artwork touches us because its source is genuine. He plays out of…
Read moreToday, in a reflective mood about the artist’s work, I’m only quoting others… ‘… the making of art has nothing at all to do with knowledge, education, craft, technique, sophistication, style, concept, subject, process, praise, the judgment of others, who you know, where you live, your age,…
Read moreIron rusts, and therefore ancient iron objects are more rare (and often less appreciated) than other metals such as bronze. Piling on an old jetty In search of information on the dawn of iron for my new book, I recently called the…
Read moreMy recent Great Sweep through my studio included going through my ‘Rajasthan‘ cupboard. It was good to unfold and rearrange a collection of Indian textiles – nothing exceptionally valuable but a testimony to change as a number of hand-blocked cotton pieces are not available anymore if…
Read moreOn a trip to Venice after finishing my university studies, I found a little manual on bookbinding. Its detailed explanations echoed a wish I already cherished at school to learn how to bind the exquisite books I had seen on display in Paris. My husband constructed a simple press and…
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