This message from Richard and Margaret Norman give you a sense of the knowledge, experience, and spirit of sharing that they bring to Eden Workshops online.
My wife and I qualified as book binders after attending a two-year, full time, City & Guilds course at Brunel College, Bristol around 1985 as mature students. Upon leaving college, we were invited by the Benedictine community at Downside Abbey in Somerset, England, to set up a bookbindery. We were given a derelict barn on a very low rent, and over the years, we restored it. We re-discovered several crafts and brought them to high standards of excellence.
Though primarily involved in book binding, we ran the workshop, along with a fine printing facility, paper marbling studio and specialist box making department for nearly 25 years before moving to France for a better quality of life and education for our daughter.
In 1997, the workshops were voted a national living treasure by Country Life magazine for their contribution to the book arts. Our workshops were extraordinary. They were a product, partly of our own energy and partly because of the willingness the community at Downside Abbey displayed to encourage our endeavours, by giving us low rent, and in some cases, free work space.
Since we went online 15 years ago, when the web was in its infancy, we have made many friends. That an independent specialist site like this can exist and thrive brings us considerable satisfaction. it would not be possible were it not for the hundreds of friends we have made over the years, the 3800 people plus who subscribe to our newsletter and the 22,000 visitors we have each month mostly from the UK and USA.
Visit Eden Workshops.
If you are a facebook person, check out Eden Workshops there for the frequent postings of great images of books from around the world and throughout time. You can find the link on the website.
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