interview with VoyageLA
Stephanie Gibbs
Hi Stephanie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My career in fine bookbinding started when I had an undergraduate job in the university book conservation lab. After several years of evaluating different training programs and fields, I decided to obtain a Master’s degree in conservation in England, while continuing to study the practices of artist’s books and fine binding privately. The first part of my career was spent working alongside printmakers and bookbinders on the east coast; in 2015 I relocated to Los Angeles and opened my studio in Hollywood. My clients include galleries, artists, prop masters, writers, and special collections libraries throughout the country.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Learning a craft is always a much longer process than one expects when first starting out with it as a hobby: the more knowledge and experience one gains, the more the subtleties and details become apparent. While I expected to be “a professional” upon completion of my MA, it was a solid decade before I had the confidence to approach new technical challenges and approaches without hesitancy or fear. This invisible labor of learning is often invisible to clients — although they can subconsciously tell the difference between “a book” and “a good book.” Now I embrace the challenges of working with unexpected materials and construction methods, bringing a knowledge of how craft works to the more experimental demands of artists and other makers.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in fine, hand bound books, in cloth and leather. Clients come to me because their projects need to be that extra bit polished and refined, an outcome that is only possible when an established craftsman is able to take part in every step of the creative process. Since I have an understanding not only of practical approaches but also of history and of related fabrication fields, it allows projects that a client might not know themselves how to define to be refined and achieved with full satisfaction. This bridging of knowledge between craft, conservation, and art fabrication allows a flexible, targeted approach to each project.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
My work isn’t just for artists and collectors! I love working on keepsake versions of children’s projects, as well as family archives and memory books.