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 Ambek 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.