Handmade Binding without Stitches

Susana Domínguez is an artist and expert in handmade bookbinding who uses her craft to bind pages into one-of-a-kind works of art. Her artisanal techniques add the perfect finish to publications that already hold immense personal value, such as artists' books. The quality and creativity of her work has earned her awards in multiple countries, including the 2017 National Artistic Bookbinding Award in Spain. Since 2006, she has been working side by side with her business partner Guadalupe Roldán to run Códex, a studio that has become an international reference in artistic bookbinding and whose mission is to bring this art form into the 21st century and make it accessible for everyone.

Susana's work is characterized by her desire to break new ground; she is constantly experimenting with a variety of new materials and techniques, often borrowed from other disciplines. For Susana, the outward appearance of a book is directly related to what its pages hold, meaning that what's inside determines how the outside looks and the materials it's made of, creating a casing that matches the quality of its content.

In this course, learn how to make an artists' book using techniques that don't leave a curve between pages. Susana teaches you how to bind a book without staples, stitches, or image creases by combining three different techniques: Orihon, perfect binding, and case binding.