What is Design Binding? Bookbinder Ruta Prusinskaite Explains

In this What is… series, we asked a selection of makers to unpack one key term that’s central to their practice. We spoke to QEST Alumni and bookbinder Ruta Prusinskaite to find out what design binding means — and how materials like leather, paper, and printmaking techniques come together in this meticulous and expressive form of bookbinding.

Can you introduce yourself and your craft practice?

My name is Ruta Prusinskaite, I am a UK based bookbinder. I work at Wyvern Bindery in London and Bookbinders of Lewes. On my daily basis I undertake various bookbinding jobs such as new bindings, box making or book repair. I also  work on design bindings in my studio in East London. A big part of my design work and process is recalling my background in printmaking, primarily lithography and relief.

What is the term, material, or technique you’re defining?

I am defining design binding, which is one of the branches of bookbinding.

Design binding is a more elevated and refined bookbinding. It is a spot where the craft of bookbinding meets art and design.

A bookbinder takes loose pages of the book to bind them, and creates a design which is their interpretation of the concept/story of the book. Design often extends from the cover to the doublures (linings), endpapers and edges of the book. When working on design binding, extra attention to detail is paid even to the smallest of the parts of the making, reaching the highest standard of work.

The covering materials can be leather, vellum or paper. Binders use decorative techniques such as dyeing, inlay or onlays, or gold finishing to realise their idea for design. Often techniques from other crafts are applied, for example marbling or printing.

Can you share an example of one of your projects that use it?

‘The Mare’s Tale’, poems by Catriona Urquhart, illustrated by Clive Hicks-Jenkins, published by The Old Stile Press. I bound it in 2025. Design is based on my interpretation of the portrayal of Mari Lwyd in both, poems and illustrations. The cover acts as a cloak, which gives Mari Lwyd a form and the endpapers mimic the head.

This is a full leather binding. Cover is impressed and sanded leather. The book has leather endbands. The endpapers are constructed from the original stone lithographs and dyed paper. Doublures are relief prints on suede.