"If you have work (define work any way you like) that you feel is valuable, you are among the fortunate."
--Bill Stewart of Vamp & Tramp Booksellers (Alabama, USA)
I love my job. My jobs. They're all related to books and bookbinding, even motherhood. Or, perhaps, especially motherhood.
In any given day, I juggle all of the following:
Making Books.
I love that most emails from clients start with "I don't know if this is possible, but..." and I get to say YES, this is possible! And make the book. And send it out into the world.
Teaching Bookbinding.
I get to spread a virus! I get to be a plague...the one that enables people to express themselves. I have taught bookbinding to four year olds and to 80+ year olds, and all ages in between, and everyone does the same happy little dance the first time they make their book. There's nothing like it.
Being a Book Artist.
My existential challenge in life is to leave enough room in my day for my OWN books. It's a challenge I'm grateful to have. Maybe that's why I end up making such large books, to remind myself this is how it all started.
Being an Author.
Here in Argentina, I am the author of Entonces el libro, my first trade edition book. It entails running a free traveling library, giving talks in public in front of real live humans, handling distribution and any number of minor tasks that, in the long run, make a major difference.
Being a Mother.
Above all, first off, and the best. Our studio, and our children, are full of volumes they have made, read, and designed all on their own. Magu and I are here, present, part of their childhood every day, all day. It is the greatest gift.
