ABOUT MY PROCESS
For me, hand setting type is a meditation. There is intention behind each letter, each word, each sentence. I believe that words, like spells cast into the world, should be carefully chosen. As I work I have pause to examine my motives. Poems and stories open portals in and out of other realms.
Printing on a letterpress machine is such a physical process, and as the weight of the words sink deep within the page, I am always struck by the permanence of this action, and the beauty of marks that make meaning out of chaos and ink.
The binding of books is yet another ritual I relish.
It is work full of metaphor where each stitch is a scaffold in the building of a physical home to our thoughts and feelings, resulting in an intimate object to be kept close or to be shared. That is the magic of it all.
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ABOUT ME
I was born in England, of Swedish and Jamaican parents, and raised in Hawaii. I am currently based in Northern California. Most of my life has revolved around the music industry, and song writing in particular. With some encouragement from my letterpress mentor Eric Johnson of Iota Press, and courses in bookbinding at SFCB and other private workshops, I made a smooth transition from writing songs to authoring books.
Over the past decade I have so far produced twelve artist books under the press name ‘Spell And Bind’, writing, illustrating, designing, letterpress printing and binding each edition. I also regularly accept commissions for letterpress, binding, and illustrations, as well as teach occasional workshops.
