Last weekend I bound an A2 portrait book (420 × 594 mm), about 800 pages, almost 20 kg.

One of those commissions with an insane turnaround: if anything slips, you fix it on the fly and race the clock.

People imagine a bookbinding studio as a relaxing space.
The reality, especially in a big city like London, working to fashion and communications agency timelines, is the complete opposite.

We planned six working days. Files arrived two days late.
Then the printing press went down, twelve hours lost, and the first run arrived with issues that needed reprinting; another day gone.

2.5 days left. What do you do? You decide it’s personal. You make it happen.

I delivered at midnight on Sunday. I always swear I won’t take these jobs again. But there’s something powerful about making to the highest standard within a tiny window: a kind of total focus that turns down the noise.

When it’s finally done, it feels like cheating gravity for a moment.

P.S. Special thanks to Simon and Ira at LCBA; Nicky Oliver of Black Fox Bindery; and Francesco of Studio Bergini.