Conference
Binding design and paper conservation of antique books, albums and documents /BBinding/
Date: 19th September 2014
Venue: Sofia, Bulgaria
in the frame of “Leonardo da Vinci” project № 2012-1-BG1-LEO05-06920
Aim:
The aim of BBinding conference is to present and discuss the new tendencies and best practices in nowadays bookbinding, paper, books and photography preservation and the education opportunities available in the field.
Context:
Larger established bookbinding workshops have been closed and a lot of small ateliers opened. The binding sections of the large printing factories have been automatized and many workers lost their jobs. A lot of binding sections in the libraries have been closed because of the tightening budgets and reduced visitors after the Internet expansion. Another negative tendency is that the printing and bookbinding industry shifted the investments to Asia.
In parallel to the declining large scale bookbinding workshops some new positive tendencies occurred. Last few decades there is an increasing demand for artistic bindings, increasing awareness of the old libraries and archives about their collections and the expansion of the Internet trade with old books. These tendencies are encouraging the appearance of new generation of bookbinders. In relation to the bookbinding, the conservation and restoration area grows. But most of the existing training materials are covering part of the problems and are rather old fashioned. There is a lack of training tools, and especially tools focusing on skills like entrepreneurship, intercultural learning and green skills in relation to the work of the “modern” bookbinders.
Nowadays, in times of industrial development and technological innovation, the style of bookbinding is becoming more and more unified. Most young people haven’t even seen how an 18th or 19th century binding looks. However, more and more people are expressing an interest in purchasing or making small artistic objects, such as artistic notebooks, decorative boxes, decorated paper.
In some countries, with long-lasting traditions in bookbinding and art one can easily see shops and ateliers offering such artistic objects. In other countries one can hardly find something as simple as a quality artistic sheet of paper, for example.