After a 15-year career in architecture, Felicity Bristow followed her passion for making and became an artist, designer and fine bookbinder. She completed an MA in Contemporary Art Practice at Edinburgh University in 2016 and established her independent practice, now operating as Felicity Bristow Studio in the Scottish Borders.
In 2023, Felicity established the SE Scotland Printmakers and Artist Book Collective, bringing together artists and makers working across printmaking and artist books and creating opportunities for collaboration, exchange and shared learning. Working across fine bookbinding, artist books, printmaking, photography and installation, Felicity explores themes of memory, place, grief and renewal. Her practice brings together traditional craft skills with contemporary art, using the book as both an object and a means of exploring ideas, materials and processes.
Felicity was awarded a QEST Scholarship to develop her expertise in traditional fine bookbinding. The scholarship enabled her to undertake bespoke one-to-one training with master bookbinder Tom McEwan in West Kilbride, developing advanced skills in traditional bookbinding structures, materials and techniques, and exploring how these can be adapted within a contemporary practice. She has now completed this training. The experience has strengthened Felicity’s ambition to demonstrate that fine bookbinding is a skilled and evolving contemporary craft, with relevance beyond commercial book production. Traditional structures provide a rich foundation for experimentation with materials, scale, form and meaning, challenging conventional ideas of what a book is and what a book can be.
Through Felicity Bristow Studio, she continues to develop limited-edition artist books, bespoke fine bindings, print and interdisciplinary work, while also sharing her knowledge through workshops and mentoring. Her ongoing ambition is to contribute to the development of a stronger culture of contemporary book arts in the Scottish Borders.
