Butterfly - Photo Album

(44cm x 32.2cm)

hand dyed calf and ostrich leather, coptic binding, sewn on sinew.

Value: $750.00

"Being once asked during an interview what attracts me to a book my answer was It's mystique."

Born and raised in Europe Ksenia was always enchanted by old libraries filled from the floor to the ceiling with countless shelves of old leather and vellum bindings, some of them bearing signs of heavy use. Their gold stamped or calligraphed spines often hard to read. How many hands handled them? How many times fingers flipped through their pages? How many minds have these books influenced?

For a long time she was mainly a book conservator, restorer, and fine bookbinder and had little time left for designing bindings. Conservation and restoration are very strict disciplines with very little room for creativity. Designer binding now gives her more freedom when it comes to constructional as well as artistic aspects of a book.