Handbound Books Exploration

Paper, brushes, and pens or pencils are the lifeblood of writers and calligraphers. Notebooks of different shapes and sizes are always a welcome addition to the work desks of those who love scripts.

Naresh Kumar, a bookbinder and stationery-maker, does all his work by hand. He has bound tabletop accessories in printed cloth with motifs of Kannada letters decoratively arranged within a leaf shape.

Knowledge has always been ranked highly in Indian culture with the teacher or sage taking precedence over the king. In rural areas those who cannot read look forward to sharing the news of a daily newspaper at a group reading and the literate often pass a newspaper around from one to the other so that as many as possible are well-informed about important events.

Naresh Kumar has embraced the concept of reading, reusing and recycling by collecting newspapers and journals in many regional languages to cover notebooks, some of which are bound with bamboo and jute thread.