Contemporary bookbinders turn hidden structures into sculptural art

A wave of artists and artisans is reimagining bookbinding by exposing the craft's hidden mechanics. Singaporean Adelene Koh's "Endless," a finalist for the 2026 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, features an embroidered endband that escapes the spine and loops into space. French binder Benjamin Elbel, working from Haarlem via his project Bookbinding Out of the Box, creates minimalist bindings that open flat while foregrounding joints and hinges. Chicago's Karen Hanmer uses structure to echo text, with exposed stitching emphasizing vulnerability. American artist and conservator Hedi Kyle, inventor of the Flag Book and Blizzard Book, transforms the codex into kinetic objects. Japanese artist Ryoko Adachi develops concertina structures inspired by natural phenomena. Italian calligrapher Mónica Dengo integrates calligraphy with binding, while New York's Sarah Smith moves between digital layout and manual construction. Materials range from fish-skin parchment to aluminum wire, with sewing, folds, and endbands becoming decorative and sculptural elements. The movement spans studios in Singapore, Chicago, Haarlem, Tokyo, Arezzo, and New York.