We started the London Centre from Book Arts in October 2012 with the goal of creating a space where artists and the wider community could affordably access equipment, resources and expertise to create and edition books and publications – becoming the first and only centre of its kind in the UK.
Come celebrate 10 years of LCBA with a belated launch event and exhibition of BOOKS: ART, CRAFT & COMMUNITY published last year during lockdown by Ludion. The exhibition will be held in our new gallery space, built as part of our crowdfunded project to rebuild the studio after Covid.
Exhibition & Private View Books: Art, Craft & Community Saturday 1 October 2022 5–9pm
We’re happy to announce that boxes of BOOKS: ART, CRAFT & COMMUNITY by the London Centre for Book Arts (us!) have arrived from the printers. The book features richly illustrated profiles of makers and contributions from experts, and sets the scene for a new way of thinking about how and why books are made today. Suffice to say, it was a real privilege and an eye-opening experience working on this book and we can’t wait to share it with readers.
It’s an incredible feeling to have the support of so many people and we can’t wait to begin the work of transforming and reopening the studio to the public. A heartfelt THANK YOU for your kindness and generosity from all of us at LCBA!
Today we’re launching a new Kickstarter campaign to rebuild the studio to better suit the new realities of shared work spaces after Covid-19, and to create a new exhibition space dedicated to artist books and artist publishing. You can read all about it here and find a list of rewards (including a pre-order for our new book!).
A soft sculpture by studio member Samantha Whetton on top of the remaining boxes of First Wash Your Hands by Lillie O’brien, a community cookbook we helped produce to tackle food inequality in the UK.
Come join us for MAKING BOOKS SUMMER SCHOOL 2021. In a week-long programme taught by experts, small groups of participants will be guided through the foundations of bookbinding at the London Centre for Book Arts.
We’re now happy to welcome back individuals and small groups (no more than four) for private workshops at LCBA. Workshops can range from traditional bookbinding & printing to contemporary (self-)publishing practices. Get in touch to find out more. (Photo by long-time studio member Neil Harrison from one of our last public workshops in February this year)
Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement these past few months. All of our workshops are cancelled or postponed, but we’re slowly and carefully getting ready to welcome back our open-access studio members. Our online shop is open as usual, and if you’re local and want to arrange a collection, please get in touch.
(New artist A-board by Matthew Walkerdine ready to greet you next time you visit the studio)
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.
