10 years with Bookbinders Design

The architectural firm Wingårdhs has been a customer to Bookbinders Design for 10 years. There have been a lot of notebooks through the years, since all employees keep their own black notebook. “It’s an important part of our profession” says Gert Wingårdh, founder of the architectural firm and in recent years also known from Swedish television.

Gert Wingårdh is the architect behind buildings like Emporia in Malmö and Victoria Tower in Kista, and extensions of famous museums such as Liljevalchs and Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Buildings that once were sketches on a paper that became a design that grew and became well-known monuments in Sweden.

On Wingårdhs every employee gets a notebook from Bookbinders Design. The lined and the unlined inlay are used for both notes and sketches. They log everything that is brought up in meetings, the employees keep a diary during projects, and each step of the process is documented in them. The notebook is an important part of their professional life, Gert says.

– When you don’t need to be as active during meetings, you can draw, sketch, and play around with images. You scribble and doodle a lot, which is good for your creativity.

Gert Wingårdh uses the books for both writing and sketching. All projects begin with a sketch that Gert presents to a co-worker. A design is then formed by constantly sketching and communicating.

He prefers the analog tools even if most of these things can be done digitally, he says. A couple of years back it was more difficult to save digital material, whilst he has almost all the analog material left from earlier projects. Nowadays he combines the digital tools with the analog. Gert always travels with a notebook and an iPad in his bag.

– I never travel anywhere without these notebooks, and it’s the same thing for my co-workers.

Photo: Andy Liffner

WINGÅRDHS FAVOURITES

Bookbinders Design’s classic notebooks in formats 170x200 and A4 are used by everyone at Wingårdhs. Black cloth is their choice but with 13 standard colours to choose from you can surely find a colour that matches your profile.

Other available formats in the series are A6+ and 210x240.

Inlay with blank or lined pages. If wanted, we also emboss text or logotypes on the cover.

How our notebooks are made

To bind books has been a classic handicraft since the Roman Times, when the modern book codex was invented. During the centuries that followed this handicraft were performed at first-hand by the church. The book was a way to preserve knowledge, in times when literacy wasn’t particularly spread outside of the churches’ context.

Bookbinding is the foundation for our brand, even if it’s a small part of our production nowadays. We’re proud that we still have the knowledge to make a handmade book of high quality.

The textblock consists of 16 folded and sewn sheets. The sheets are glued together and the whole back is then glued as well. It’s strengthened with a stripe of cloth that covers the back. The backs of the sheets are then pressed on the sides to ensure better browsing and a more beautiful spread. At the top and the bottom of the back we mount an endband. It’s a thin band that additionally strengthens it and conceals the back of the sheets. We also attach a ribbon bookmark that is attached in the back.

A process done with care, without compromising with either quality or material. The result can be held in your hands – ready to be filled with anything you wish.