News

(New artist A-board by Matthew Walkerdine ready to greet you next time you visit the studio)

For those of you who have donated or have recently become a Friend of the London Centre for Book Arts, thank you. Your support means the world to us. 

As you can imagine, we have had to dramatically adjust our ways of working since March. All workshops have been cancelled or postponed for the foreseeable, our open-access studio has been closed since March, and we recently found out that our application for emergency funding from Arts Council England was unsuccessful – we’re still actively looking into other sources of emergency funding.

Luckily for us, we have been able to walk or cycle to the studio regularly to process orders from our online shop (following the events in the US, we will be donating 10% of all proceeds from our online shop until Friday 12 June towards organisations fighting racism and inequality in both the US and the UK – it’s not much but it’s the best we can do under the circumstances). We have also managed to run a few online workshops and studio tours, and this may be something we do more of in the future. 

As of today we do not have a date set for when we might resume public workshops, but we plan on reopening our open-access studio in the coming weeks to existing members – the exact date has not been set and will depend on risk assessments and guidelines from our local authority.

We’re in regular contact with our studio members who have been a constant source of inspiration. The Centre was built on the idea that necessity is the mother of invention, and we have no doubt that we will get through this alongside the most wonderful community that we are lucky to be part of.

Simon & Ira

We’re open to the public by appointment: Tuesday–Saturday 10am–6pm ☁️ all things books 📚 everyone welcome 👋 Please call or email to book an appointment

The London Centre for Book Arts will be closed for our annual winter break Saturday 21 December 2019 – Friday 3 January 2020. The studio, bindery, and shop will re-open on Saturday 4 January 2020.

Any online orders placed during this time will be dispatched on Monday 30 December 2019 & Thursday 2 January 2020.

Thank you for all of your support in 2019 and look forward to seeing you again in the new year!

Ira & Simon

For Christmas this year, we’re offering free gift wrapping on all online orders and in-store purchases of Making Books and bookbinding tool kits. For online orders, we recommend placing orders by Tuesday 17 December, and if you’re shopping in-person, we will be open until Friday 20 December before we close for our annual winter break. 

The second annual BOOK FAIR is Sunday 1 December, 11am–6pm, at the London Centre for Book Arts. All welcome!

A showcase of more than 30 independent UK and international publishers (and a jam maker) at an artist-run print studio and bindery housed within one of the few remaining Victorian industrial buildings in Fish Island E3.

Publishers: 3-Ply, A6 BOOKS, Akerman Daly, Book Works, Bricks from the Kiln, Bronze Age Editions, Chateau International, Clinic, Colorama, Four Corners Books, Good Press, Inga, Landfill Editions, Makina Books, Murmur Anthology, Occasional Papers, Onomatopee, Open Editions, Pilot Press, Primary Information, Prototype, PS London, Roma Publication, Rough Trade Books, Setsuko, Spector Books, Strange Attractor, Synchronise Witches, Talker, The Everyday Press, Tinted Window, Uniform Books

Join us Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 July 12–6pm for our Summer Open Studio as part of Hackney WickED, a celebration of culture in Fish Island and Hackney Wick. Come for books, a spot of printing, a chat and a browse. Drinks provided by our friends at East London Brewing. 

Another session just added! Come join us at the London Centre for Book Arts for Making Books Summer School, a week-long series of bookbinding workshops taught by experts in an active bindery in East London. Participants will meet for five consecutive days (Monday 26 – Friday 30 August) and learn how to use specialist tools and equipment (including foil-blocking) to create by hand six different book structures and a Solander box.