Carte blanche for the Book and Paper Design Department

The Book and Paper Design Department is one of the few courses where students learn the demanding craft of bookbinding within a primarily artistic context. The department’s mission is to train new generations of designers specialising in the book as an object, whilst preserving its artisanal heritage.

From its very inception, the book has presented itself as a complex object that unfolds throughout history and across its contents, but also in terms of its physicality. A single folded sheet of paper is enough to form a four-page book, a simple process which, in itself, raises a series of fundamental questions: the principle of front and back, double-page spreads, reading direction, endpapers, and so on. This rich and enigmatic structure offers creators infinite artistic possibilities which, paradoxically, are not hindered by the ubiquity of digital technology. Indeed, technological developments also encourage a renewed appreciation of the book’s physicality.

Thus, La Cambre’s Department of Book and Paper Design aims to be a laboratory or a space for exploring the physicality and materiality of the book and contemporary bookbinding. The field of research is vast, as it encompasses both bibliophile and fine bookbinding as well as artist’s books, which are often conceptual.

The exhibition ‘On trouvera’ provides a fine overview of the experiments carried out over the last two years by students from the department, across all levels of study. The works demonstrate the challenges overcome in using ingenious devices and materials to subvert the mass-produced nature of publishing and transform the book into a unique creation.

Works by Angeline Guzman, Anna Marguier, Assya Guermit, Eloïse Agostini, Floriane Domésor, Maïa Fourcy, Maud Lefebvre, Maude Cottenier, Ninnog Gesland-Bouilly, Nora Amaouche, Roxane Daguet, Sahoko Yoshino, Sarah Juin, Zazie Depelsenaire, Zoé Coutier, Zoé Peray.

With the invaluable collaboration of Tatsuya Inuikawa, Head of the Book and Paper Design Department, and Juliette Amigues and Élise De Maio, members of the teaching team.