Bookbinding 101: Workshop for Adults & Teens

Bookbinding 101 is a hands-on bookbinding workshop for adults & teens brought to you by Booklyn, Inc., and hosted at Interference Archive in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Learn two handy and simplistically beautiful binding techniques: the Pamphlet Stitch & Japanese Stab-binding.

We’ll cover some history of both techniques, explore zines and artists’ books with unique bindings, and introduce you to a range of bookbinding tools. Then we will make our own books! You can bring your own paper to bind or use our selection of various paper types to make a journal, sketchbook, or blank book. Two hours will be dedicated to learning and instruction. 30 minutes will be reserved for studio time so you can finish your projects.

All materials and tools will be provided. No previous bookbinding experience is necessary, but an interest in writing, drawing, or crafting will go a long way. We strongly believe that bookmaking is for everyone interested in making them.

Questions? Email us at [email protected].

Instructor: Jan Descartes (she/her) is an artist, writer, educator, and curator living in Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate of Syracuse University (BA), Carnegie Mellon University (MFA), and CUNY Graduate Center (MLS). She is the co-curator of Our Comics, Ourselves:  Identity, Expression, and Representation in Comic Art, co-creator of Heartland Comic, a collective member of Pop Gym, and Educating Curator at Booklyn, Inc.  

Jan’s art practice includes comics, zines, painting, and printing and is concerned with memory, empathy, personal subjectivity, and open accessibility. Jan facilitates comic/zine workshops and self-defense workshops. She created the online comics instructional resource Drawing Through the Walls, which supports comics creation as a method to share experiences of incarceration and its damaging effects on community. Jan co-authored “Feminist Curating with Our Comics, Ourselves” in the text Comics and Critical Librarianship: Reframing the Narrative in Academic Libraries.

Bookbinding 101 is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the NY City Council.

Host or Publisher Booklyn