Both ‘Le Mariage de Figaro’ and ‘La Philosophie des Vapeurs’ have been made using a technique of your designing called ‘Hidden Weft’. A process you have called ‘deceitful…’ Can you explain the technique and why you chose it for these two bindings? I love making paper bindings and looked for a way to make them sound more “interesting”. After trying the Japanese method of lining fabric with paper I started to make some experiments of my own combining the simple gluing of paper and tissue with a more elaborated procedure under strong pressure. This method allows for the use of such materials as velvet and heavy passementerie* because the handmade paper underneath absorbs the swell and the result is neither paper nor fabric that is why I have called it ‘Hidden Weft’ and consider it deceitful. Was it by chance that these two books tell us about light-hearted deceits?

Is it important then, that the content or purpose of the intended binding has some synergy with the process you use? When I think of a binding for an old book I think of its cultural content and its physical appearance that has been transformed by circumstances and time. An old book is a unique piece and working with it means to be capable of responsiveness and understanding so, yes, synergy is part of the process.

To bind ‘La Philosophie des Vapeurs’ you have said you had to hold the binding in your hands for hours whilst it was drying to obtain ‘a perfect fusion between book and binding’. Yet that time invested is perhaps overlooked, or taken for granted by a viewing public. How important is it to you that viewers understand your methods?The text block looked so ‘at ease’ with its old wavy paper that I thought it was important not to constrict it into a rigid binding. So not only I used a paper based cover (the hidden weft) but I humidified it and adapted it to the book while it was drying. It was a very sensual approach the shape of the book matching my palms. Not a light caress but a continuous presence and a sure touch, quite an experience for me. I must say that I did no care about the spectators understanding of time or methods but I hope that something is perceived all the same.

I think I’m right in saying that your third book ‘Il Teatrino’, was reduced to just a stack of pages when you came across it. How did the graphic content of the book inform the work you did? In my view ‘Il Teatrino’ aimed for the third dimension even when laying as a set of pages in its original envelope and I was searching for a theatrical form for it when I came across the description of the ‘tunnel book’ that apparently had been devised to show the view of the tunnel under the river Thames. Then it was easy for me to adapt that idea to my stack of pages making a theatrical construction or ‘teatrino’ (in Italian) with a handmade paper that matched the original folder.

How were your material choices inspired by the necessary functionality of the book? Paper seemed the obvious choice, its shade and texture matching the old pages and coeval folder. Working with old books requires sensitivity to materials and shades because it is very easy to give the impression that something is wrong.

Approximately how much time did the making of each of these bindings take? From making a decision on what to do, to completion. Binding is a slow process and we get along with different projects that we carry on simultaneously. It is almost impossible to talk about how much time is needed to make a given binding, not to speak of the changes we introduce during the process or the silly mistakes we make when working late at night, or the importance of going out for a walk when we are loosing control, hopefully before we make the wrong cut. In my case, generally speaking, I am a long thinker and a quick doer. Once I start to work everything is already in my mind even the smallest detail.

1 La Philosophie des Vapeurs, Abbé C.J. de B. de Poumerelle (1774),1995 Passementerie on old handmade paper (Hidden Weft).

2 Le Mariage de Figaro, M.de Beaumarchais (1785), 1998
Decorated silk on handmade printed paper (Hidden Weft).

3 Il Teatrino (date unknown), 2006
Handmade paper.

Japanese kimono.
Polished stone.
Japanese fan.
Silver spoon by David Clarke.
Soave sia il vento ‘Così fan tutte’, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1789.