Book Arts Day 2026

Karen Akester @karen.akester

Karen Akester draws inspiration from tunnel books, paper-constructed Victorian toys, toy theatres and pop-up books. Influenced by the scrapbooks and peepshows of the 19th century, she creates her own series of pocket dioramas and folding book treasures. Working primarily in lino and woodcut, Karen produces beautifully illustrated books and prints. At Book Arts Day she will be showing a selection of her constructed and folded books alongside prints from her Flora & Fauna and Animal Fancies collections.

Mette-Sofie Ambek @ambeck_design

Over decades as a book artist, Mette-Sofie has explored a wide range of themes through her artists' books. Her early work drew on the naïve expressions of tin toy robots— an interest that has recently returned in works including AI, Fishy and Slut, prut, FINALE. The appeal of the robot came from often feeling like one herself, carrying out repetitive work. While her earliest books explored simple ideas of life, such as Boy Meets Girl, her subjects have become more complex over time. Throughout, she has remained committed to keeping the design simple. As Mette-Sofie describes her practice: "Investigating life's details – simple yet complicated."

David Armes @redplatepress

David Armes is an artist whose practice brings together print, language and geography. Working primarily with letterpress, he creates artists' books, prints and installations that are often site-specific, exploring how place shapes understanding and experience. A lifelong geographer, he is particularly interested in borders, liminal spaces and contested landscapes, using the book as a vehicle for examining the relationships between language, territory and identity. His work is held in major public collections, including the V&A, the British Library, Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections and the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Sophie Artemis @sophie.artemis

Sophie Artemis creates beguiling, sensory tunnel books and immersive paper scenographies that open portals into imagined worlds and hidden narratives. Through peepholes, pop-ups, intricate dioramas and theatrical vistas, her work invites viewers to look closer and journey deeper into the story. Layers of cut paper conceal and reveal, transforming each page turn into an act of discovery. As the books are handled and explored, shifting perspectives uncover what lies beneath the surface and just beyond sight, rewarding curiosity with moments of surprise, wonder and quiet revelation.

Mandy Brannan @mandybrannan

Mandy Brannan is a North London–based book artist and artisan papermaker specialising in Japanese-style handmade paper. Inspired by the visual language of architecture, her practice explores the relationship between structure, form and space, drawing on architectural history and theory to inform the design and construction of her books. Working across photographic manipulation, paper engineering, handmade papermaking, inkjet printing and hand-drawn elements, she selects processes that best serve each project. Mandy was recently Artist in Residence at the Institute of Making, UCL, Stratford, and holds an Arts Society GLA Bursary Studio at Cockpit Arts, Lewisham.

Jane Cradock-Watson @janec_w

Jane Cradock-Watson is a book artist and printmaker whose work explores the relationship between nature, landscape and the human condition through the tactile qualities of books and printmaking. She experiments with book structures and the rich surface qualities of paper to create narratives that unfold through handling and discovery. Themes of the natural world, memory, place and the domestic run throughout her practice, inviting quiet reflection and close engagement. Her artists' books are held in public and private collections, including the V&A, Tate Britain and the Yale Center for British Art.

Cameron Drawbridge @camerondrawbridge

Cameron Drawbridge is a bookbinder whose practice marks a new direction following a recent move from New Zealand to the UK. Graduating from the two-year Foundation Degree in Bookbinding at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, Cameron creates designer bindings that explore social themes including power dynamics and gender non-conformity. Bold, unapologetic motifs combine with relief techniques and sculptural approaches, with leather and fabric moulded over textured surfaces to create tactile, expressive bindings. Cameron is currently establishing a studio at Making Space in Havant, Hampshire.

James Holcombe @holcombe.art

James Holcombe is a freelance artist and self-publisher of small illustrated books, creating work that ranges from experimental mark-making to short, darkly humorous tales. More recently, his practice has explored themes of nature and horror, always with a playful and mischievous twist. Through inventive ideas and otherworldly storytelling, James creates books that invite curiosity and encourage readers to look beyond the familiar. His work has recently been exhibited and sold at the Dublin Small Press Fair in Ireland and the Artists’ Bookmarket at Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.

Trash Rebound @trashrebound

Trash Rebound is a London-based creative bookbinder with a strong focus on sustainability and upcycling. She creates handcrafted notebooks and albums using an eclectic range of materials, from Japanese and Nepalese papers, hand-marbled papers and artist papers to textile offcuts and repurposed magazine covers. Her commitment to sustainable making extends to the pages themselves, which include paper made from recycled coffee cups and fallen leaves, alongside high-quality cartridge paper for albums and art books. Through thoughtful combinations of materials, Trash Rebound gives new life to everyday and discarded resources, creating distinctive, tactile books that are made to be used and treasured.

Quince Press @quince_press

Quince Press is an independent artist and writer creating sculptural forms, artists’ books and journals. Each piece begins with her poetry or short stories, exploring the shifting relationships between language, memory and landscape. Textural layers, inspired by the words themselves, combine with bookbinding elements to investigate how time alters the surface of things and leaves unexpected traces. Her work translates these ideas into tactile book forms and ‘poem ells’, inviting viewers to pause and engage with their atmosphere, delicacy and material presence, and to consider the impressions that time leaves behind.

The Kelpie Press @the_kelpie_press

Isobel of The Kelpie Press creates distinctive artists’ books using techniques ranging from letterpress to cyanotype. Her work reflects a love of typography, colour and pattern, often drawing inspiration from local landscapes and the coast, and always infused with a quirky imagination. Originally from Scotland and now based in Mid Wales, Isobel creates books that combine thoughtful craftsmanship with a strong sense of place and playfulness. Her work is held in public and private collections across the UK and USA, including the British Library, National Library of Scotland and Bodleian Library.

London Artists Books @londonartistsbooks

London Artists Books (LAB) was formed in 2025 by a group of ten book artists who meet monthly to explore ideas, develop new work and share skills. Each month, the group responds to a chosen theme, creating artists’ books while demonstrating different book structures and exchanging techniques, knowledge and inspiration. Members work individually as well as collaboratively, with several belonging to the Society of Bookbinders and having exhibited at Book Arts Days, book fairs and exhibitions across the UK. LAB’s ongoing work and monthly projects can be discovered through its blog and social media.

Ruth Martin @nothingbuttheruth_

Ruth Martin creates limited-edition artists’ books, hand-printed using hand-cut rubber stamps and infused with a generous dose of wit and mischief. Words and language are central to her practice, drawing inspiration from idioms and expressions, the packaging of everyday objects and the rhythms of everyday conversation. Her playful books transform familiar ideas into unexpected visual narratives, from the light-hearted observations of THINK ON! to THE APPLE PIE CHART, alongside flick books featuring dripping taps, disco balls and clapping hands. Above all, Ruth’s work is made to surprise, amuse and raise a smile.

Inkpot and Pen @inkpotandpen

Inkpot and Pen is an inksmith practice encompassing illustration, hand lettering and cut-out lettering across artists’ books and original prints. Drawing inspiration from the natural world and the fabric of everyday life, the work explores the human condition, including its more challenging dimensions. Through colour, language and a thoughtful use of humour, Inkpot and Pen reframes the overlooked, inviting viewers to pause, see familiar things differently and rediscover the beauty and richness of the present moment.

Gaëlle Pelachaud @gaellepelachaud

Gaëlle Pelachaud is an artist whose practice is inspired by birds and the beauty of the natural world. Through close observation, she captures moments of movement and life, translating the subtle details of birds in their natural habitats into expressive graphic series. Her work reflects a deep respect for nature and a fascination with the art of learning to see. Combining careful observation with a sensitive and distinctive visual language, Gaëlle’s work celebrates the character, movement and individuality of the birds she encounters.

Caroline Penn @penn.caroline

Caroline Penn is a London-based book artist whose practice explores the domestic environment and our emotional relationships with the objects that surround us. Working with photography, text and drawing, she creates artists’ books and films that uncover the stories and memories held within everyday objects and domestic spaces. Her work invites us to look more closely at the familiar, revealing the quiet narratives and emotional connections that can lie hidden within the home.

The Book Tree Press @thebooktreepress

The Book Tree Press explores the sculptural possibilities of the book as a way of telling stories. Producing small editions using a range of contemporary and traditional printmaking processes, its work moves playfully between illustration, design, art and craft. The press has a particular interest in low-tech printmaking and heritage collections, transforming these influences into distinctive and tactile books. Its publications are held in international collections and regularly exhibited at book fairs. The imprint is created by illustrator Lucy Roscoe, a Lecturer in Illustration at the University of Edinburgh and co-founder of BOOKMARKS, an artists’ book and zine fair celebrating innovative approaches to the book form in education.

Ciarrai Samson @ciarraisamson

Ciarrai Samson creates handmade artists’ books that use the book as a site of encounter between place, memory and lived experience. Her work responds to both the lasting legacies of genocide and conflict and the quieter, more personal discoveries made through travel. Rooted in sustained observation and movement through landscapes, her practice considers what remains after an event has passed. Through the intimate, tactile form of the artist’s book, Ciarrai invites viewers to reflect on place, memory and the traces that experiences leave behind.

Batool Showghi @batoolshowghi

Batool Showghi is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses artists’ books and mixed-media textile work. Her work explores women’s experiences and the ways in which these are shaped by cultural and religious boundaries. Themes of turbulence, immigration, family and displacement recur throughout her practice, reflecting on personal and collective experiences of change and belonging. Batool’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and her artists’ books are held in public collections including the British Library and Tate Library Special Collections.

Chisato Tamabayashi @chisatotamabayashi

Chisato Tamabayashi creates handmade pop-up and cut-out books that transform the flat page into objects of depth and dimension. Her work explores how the experience of turning a page can shift with changes in time, place and light, revealing new perspectives and spatial relationships. Each book is screen-printed, hand-cut and carefully assembled in her studio, combining precision and craftsmanship with an enchanting sense of movement and discovery. Her work invites viewers to engage with the book as a tactile, three-dimensional object rather than simply a sequence of pages.

The Bookband @bookbandart

The Bookband is a group of six book artists who have worked together for several years, sharing ideas, skills and support while developing very different individual practices. Each member creates handmade artists’ books using a wide range of structures, from unique pieces to small editions. The group has exhibited widely at artists’ book fairs and exhibitions, including BABE, SoB Book Arts Day, PAGES, Liverpool Book Arts and Edinburgh Artists’ Book Fair. In 2025, The Bookband presented its second joint exhibition, which was warmly received, celebrating the diversity and creativity of its members.

Mori Paper Studio @moripaperstudio

Abigail Thomas of Mori Paper Studio is an artist and curator returning to her artistic practice after a period away. Inspired by process, materiality and visual poetry, her practice centres on paper, text, bookmaking, eco-dyeing, printmaking and collage, often bringing these elements together in artists’ books and mixed-media works. Abigail completed a Master’s in Book Arts in 2012, where she explored the future of reading and the relationship between text and the book. Her current work celebrates language, the tactile qualities of paper and cloth, and the enduring possibilities of the book form.

Julian Walker @julianwalkerandstufflikethat

Julian Walker works across two strands of practice. Through StuffLikeThatbooks, he produces handmade chapbooks featuring covers printed using linocut, woodcut, collagraph and Tetrapak techniques, with pamphlet-stitch bindings. The imprint publishes his own writing alongside work by other writers, as well as one-page folded stories, microbooks and mixed-paper scrapbooks. In his personal practice, Julian creates books using historic 18th-century papers and vintage sewing-pattern papers, combining typewritten and rubber-stamped designs with stencilled lines and layers of overprinting to create distinctive, tactile works.

Nick West @nickweststudio

Nick West’s practice explores the physicality of books and the ways in which language can convey meaning through structure and repetition. In his series Books From Things, he reimagines the book as a sculptural form, creating one-of-a-kind volumes from readily available, mass-produced objects. Working through assemblage and modular construction, Nick transforms everyday materials into unexpected book forms. His new body of work, Zines From Lists, continues this exploration of the relationship between language, structure and the possibilities of the book.

Satsuki Press @satsuki_press @alibiecila

Satsuki Press is a self-publishing project producing artist books that explore the everyday through craft, materials, and playful storytelling. Drawing inspiration from mundane objects, poetic encounters, and moments from daily life and travel, its publications use bookmaking as both a creative process and a way of documenting experience. Through experimental approaches to print and production, Satsuki Press creates thoughtful and tactile publications that invite readers to discover the poetry and unexpected narratives hidden within the familiar.