Alina Grabiec & Artur Stepniak

The art of bespoke binding

• Each of their projects is completely personalised
• The core of their profession is design
• They love teaching and organise various workshops

For Alina Grabiec and Artur Stepniak, it all began with a search for a sketchbook that would meet their needs. As architecture students, they would sketch and draw on a daily basis, but the sketchbooks they were using were not the best quality, so Artur searched for an alternative. “I decided I had to find someone who would make me a sketchbook the way I wanted. I didn't succeed in Poland, but I was able to find a bookbinder in Venezuela, from whom I ordered two notebooks,” he says. Alina and Artur decided to unbind the notebook and learn how to sew one themselves. “Artur's father’s shirt served as a cover and we sewed old sheets of paper with silk thread,” says Alina. Looking back, it is still one of her dearest projects.

Interview

© Radek Zawadzki

© Radek Zawadzki

How did this project turn into a career?

First orders were for friends and family. The news spread among friends of illustrators and architects that we could make them a personalised notebook. They could choose their own format, paper and cover, something that was not possible to find in any store.

When did you start Aanda Craft?

We created a Facebook page. It was more about posting photos of what we did rather than trying to make it our full-time job. But when I finished my architecture studies, I realised books were what I was most passionate about and so I dedicated myself entirely to Aanda Craft.

One of your favourite techniques is coptic binding. What is that?

In classic books the sewing is not exposed and is created separately from the cover. What we like the most is outer sewing. A thicker thread is used, the sewing is expressive and is connected to the cover. It allows a book to open flat, which for an illustrator or a painter is very useful.

How did you master your techniques?

There was a lot of improvisation, as we started from scratch. People have come to us with their own textiles and challenged us to master our techniques. We value the fact that every sketchbook created here is sewn by hand and they are all unique.

Alina Grabiec & Artur Stepniak are s: they began their career in 2012

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