Part One: Binding in the Third Dimension
Graham Patten is a bookbinder who applies his interests in origami, movement, and bookbinding to create unusual pieces that merge books and sculpture. The decorative and design elements of his work tend to arise from mechanical, structural, and kinetic ideas rather than from more traditional fine binding techniques.
Considerations of access and functionality that are integral to book conservation also influence Graham’s bookbinding work. He invents structures and sculptural techniques that transform the reader’s conventional interaction with the book.
In his presentation, Graham will discuss the origin of the three-dimensional origami-style bindings used on Curved-Folding Origami Design and other books, and the techniques he has developed to construct them. There is a continuum of structural possibilities within this theme that affect the functionality of the book structure. As he walks through the binding process, Graham will discuss the various design considerations that must be addressed, and how the binding process has evolved from book to book.