Owl Post - December 2024
So Sydney craft week and Sydney Rare Book fair are now events of the past, we are still whirling and awakening from all the organisation of events, workshops and of course the book fair at Sydney University, we still can't get over how many shortbread rounds were eaten and how much tea was drunk at our open bindery tours. We are hugely grateful to all of you who visited the bindery, workshopped with us, bought books and panda pens, pin badges, and generally giving us your support and joining in our revelry.
Gold Tooling demonstration for Sydney Craft Week
Now normal bindery life has resumed with new commissions, working on 2025 workshops, of course and working on bindings that need to be finished for Christmas!
While we are not quite playing Christmas carols yet, this week we are listening to Maria Callas, singing Puccini’s Tosca and arranging our bindery shop front, we have rather a lot of pretty notebooks, diaries, journals for sale in the shop, so do keep us in mind when sorting out your Christmas list or your own wish list! Many of the books are bespoke, not surprising, when all our books are individually made. For a small artisan business, every purchase made is celebrated with dancing and cheering.
Christmas time is associated with my grandmother, Advent, magic, cold and London. I have the most vivid memories of being dressed up like a doll and taken to performances of The Nutcracker at Covent Garden during the holiday season, we would meet up with her ladies, some also with doll-like grand-daughters, take in a show, stop for tea at Fortnum's and after that a visit to Hatchett's to pick some books for presents. Quite Victorian, and perfectly lovely in every possible way.
The Australian Ballet has an exciting programme this year, including the Nutcracker. There will also be a Children's Storytime Ballet of the Sleeping Beauty this year, which promises an enchanting experience for myself and my little five-year old daughter.
On the topic of Christmas..
You are warmly invite to our
Christmas Party!
on
Saturday 14th of December
10am-1pm
Please bring a plate to share.
In other news, have you taken in the Magrite exhibition yet, on at the Art Gallery of NSW. This exhibition boast more than 100 works most of which have never been seen in Australia and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Magritte reimagined painting as a tool for challenging perception and stimulating the viewer’s intellect. His approach involved disconnecting objects from their names, exposing language as an artificial construct filled with ambiguities and pitfalls. Through this, he encouraged viewers to question the assumptions and limitations of both visual and verbal representation, the visual experience of seeing a painting in real like is not to be missed.
We have mentioned the State Library of NSW Peter Kingston exhibition before, and the ever inspirational Mathilde de Hautecloque have made a third visitor book in gloriously, sumptuous colours. Do drop by and be inspired by the work on display and add a little of your own artistic doodles in the visitors book.
And do, if you can, make a point of reading Darling by India Knight. Darling is a modern retelling of The Pursuit of Love, and who would have thought India Knight could rework it so brilliantly? While we are not always enamoured of these re-write, fear not—it’s a fantastic read that honours Nancy Mitford without compromising her legacy. We haven’t laughed out loud so much and read a book so gleefully in such a long time.
Isabelle