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.

Start the course by getting to know Susana and her work as she talks through her professional career and shares her biggest influences. She also introduces you to the concept of an artists’ book and shows you the range of formats and designs they can have, as well as some of their peculiarities.

Discover what kind of paper you can use for your projects and learn about different covers and finishes.

Susana then shows you the tools and materials you need to embark on your bookbinding journey.
Learn how to prepare printed pages before moving on to the folding and gluing process.

To wrap everything up, Susana teaches you a set of techniques to create original covers using leather and vinyl paper.