Collection: How the books are made

Every book goes through the same steps, whether it is a design from the shop or something we invent together.

1. Taking it apart. The original cover comes off, the text block is cleaned up and, where needed, the signatures are re-sewn by hand so the book opens flat and stays that way.

2. The design. Fabric, foil, motifs and lettering are decided together with you. You see a complete digital mockup before anything is cut.

3. Cutting and transferring. Each element is cut separately — sometimes a dozen pieces for a single cover — and transferred onto the cloth one by one. This is where the hours go.

4. Foiling. Metallic and holographic foil is applied by hand and pressed with heat. It is the step with the least room for error: foil does not forgive a second attempt in the same place.

5. The case. Boards, spine and cloth become the case. The text block is glued in, the endpapers are set, the edges are gilded or sprayed if you chose that.

6. Pressing and checking. The finished book spends its last hours under weight, then gets checked, wrapped and sent tracked.

About a week of work after your approval — and at no point does a machine decide what the cover looks like.