KATE HOLLAND, designer bookbinder. OTTO. ~ Return of the Crayfish (a Ghost Story).
No 36 of 100. 18pp. fully screen printed book by Otto the graphic artist and artists’ book maker, black whtie and metallic bronze screen printed wrappers. 24 x 29.5 cms. Sm. folio, bound by Kate Holland (signed with monogram on lower turn-in), black morocco spine with blue morocco sides with gold, orange morocco and black shiny paper onlays, ruled with a dynamic geometric design in gilt on both sides, going over the spine, black morocco doublures and handmade black paper free endpapers with large arrow designs on each, the doublures with ruled gilt arrow and the free endpapers with a mottled gold arrow, multiple coloured pages to reflect the orange and blue colours of the book which are used in the binding. Housed in the orignal black cloth, velvet lined solander box with black and gilt ruled spine label.
Kate Holland has been a Fellow of the Designer Bookbinders for some years and is much in demand for her design bindings as well as her teaching skills. Her bindings are vibrant and visually arresting. She has a great use of colour, and enjoys using gentle wit and small motifs in her bindings as we see here. This is a fine example of her strong and technically excellent work and is particularly representative of her ability to get to the nub of a book and reflect it with joy and humour in her binding.
Otto has worked in editorial illustration since graduating in 1991 from Bristol Polytechnic in Graphic Design. After a Masters in Illustration at Kingston University in 1996 Otto was amongst a handful of Illustrators pioneering a conceptual graphic style based on screen print and collage, often accompanying texts on the internet revolution. Otto’s image making is derived from Russian Constructivist design, which provided the visual backdrop to the political revolution in Russia 100 years earlier. He works for several publications as well as creating artists’ books, science fiction booklets and prints. His exciting work can be seen on his website ottographic.fr
The book was exhibited at the Contemporary Designer Bookbinders show at Sophie Schneideman Rare Books in March 2012