This class is taught by visiting instructor Bill Hanscom!
Explore the intersection of origami and bookbinding. Students put the techniques of traditional paper-folding to work creating structures that draw inspiration from many corners of bookbinding. The accordion fold, the codex, albums, maps, and even boxes and envelopes all make appearances. Your hands, supplemented by only the simplest set of tools, transform flat sheets of paper through folding (and the occasional cut), resulting in a variety of elegantly simple and dynamic structures. We will be primarily creasing, making cuts seldomly, and using no adhesive at all! These structures can be used on their own, combined with each other, or with other forms of bookmaking. They provide interesting opportunities for decoration (photocopy, letterpress, toning, paste-papering) since they are mostly constructed from a single sheet.
All materials and tools are provided for this class. Max class size 8.
Class is Saturday October 3rd 10am-2pm.
Bill Hanscom (they/them) is a library conservation professional, educator, and author. Since 2009, they have worked as a conservation technician for special collections at Harvard Library’s Weissman Preservation Center. They taught undergraduate courses in bookbinding, letterpress printing, book art theory, and independent publishing for the Book Arts BFA program at Montserrat College of Art from 2010 to 2023, serving as its coordinator for seven years. For more than a decade, Bill has regularly taught workshops on historical bookbinding structures and other book arts and preservation topics for North Bennet Street School, the Guild of Bookworkers, and other organizations. They are the author of Ethiopian Bookbinding Tradition (The Legacy Press, 2026). Bill lives in Rockport, Massachusetts with their wife and three children.
This class is taught by visiting instructor Bill Hanscom!
Explore the intersection of origami and bookbinding. Students put the techniques of traditional paper-folding to work creating structures that draw inspiration from many corners of bookbinding. The accordion fold, the codex, albums, maps, and even boxes and envelopes all make appearances. Your hands, supplemented by only the simplest set of tools, transform flat sheets of paper through folding (and the occasional cut), resulting in a variety of elegantly simple and dynamic structures. We will be primarily creasing, making cuts seldomly, and using no adhesive at all! These structures can be used on their own, combined with each other, or with other forms of bookmaking. They provide interesting opportunities for decoration (photocopy, letterpress, toning, paste-papering) since they are mostly constructed from a single sheet.
All materials and tools are provided for this class. Max class size 8.
Class is Saturday October 3rd 10am-2pm.
Bill Hanscom (they/them) is a library conservation professional, educator, and author. Since 2009, they have worked as a conservation technician for special collections at Harvard Library’s Weissman Preservation Center. They taught undergraduate courses in bookbinding, letterpress printing, book art theory, and independent publishing for the Book Arts BFA program at Montserrat College of Art from 2010 to 2023, serving as its coordinator for seven years. For more than a decade, Bill has regularly taught workshops on historical bookbinding structures and other book arts and preservation topics for North Bennet Street School, the Guild of Bookworkers, and other organizations. They are the author of Ethiopian Bookbinding Tradition (The Legacy Press, 2026). Bill lives in Rockport, Massachusetts with their wife and three children.
Image 1 of 5
Image 2 of 5
Image 3 of 5
Image 4 of 5
Image 5 of 5