Kate Holland

2023 QEST Penhaligon’s Scholar - Bookbinding
Somerset

Kate is a bookbinder specialising in contemporary fine bindings to commission or for exhibition. She uses traditional materials and techniques to produce a unique, modern binding that reflects the text, illustrations and typeface of the book. A Fellow of Designer Bookbinders, she has books in the Library of the Human Imagination as well as the V&A, British, Bodleian and Yale University Libraries and many public and private collections internationally. She is a regular binder to The Booker Prize.

Kate’s 2023 QEST Scholarship will allow her to explore continental fine binding techniques, particularly French techniques, including gold tooling and edge gilding, with renowned masters of the craft; Luigi Castiglioni, Julian Thomas, Helene Jolis and Patrick Prouteau. After 25 years as a professional bookbinder, Kate aims to push herself out of her comfort zone, refine her practice, and achieve greater heights. Her long-term career plans involve creating a course in the Art of the Book at Bath Spa University, where students can explore various disciplines associated with bookmaking.

The designer bookbinder’s role is a fine balancing act incorporating a myriad of different craft skills, from leather working to gold tooling, embroidery to metalwork. They must serve as artistic interpreter, adding another layer to the existing work of the author, the illustrator and the printer, without clashing or imitating and so elevating the whole book to art object where function and form are of equal importance. With this QEST Scholarship I hope to push the craft of bookbinding, and especially designer bookbinding, into the sphere of fine crafts, and then further out to the wider public in general.