Agathe Ruelland Remy in the studio of Laurel Parker - 2021

Agathe Ruelland Remy, winner of the 2021 Savoir-faire en transmission prize, completed her one-year internship at the Laurel Parker Bookbinding workshop, which was created in 2008. 

Having completed her training last December, Agathe shares her journey and her assessment in words that reflect the richness and pride of this experience.

"For a year, I left my MacBook and Indesign behind to go back to handmade gestures, to learn about paper and to better understand the making of a multiple. Laurel Parker and Paul Chamard welcomed me in their workshop of design and manufacture of artists' books during this year of improvement. 

From the client's appointment to the manufacturing process and the art direction, all the stages of a project and its economy were laid out in order to better understand the functioning of a workshop like Laurel Parker Book.

The studio receives commissions from a variety of backgrounds. Most of the clients come from the contemporary art, photography and luxury sectors. Each project is scrupulously studied to correspond to the artist's concept and to highlight it in a unique object or in small series. I attended many meetings and was able to contribute my point of view alongside Laurel. 

The workshop has a library of materials containing a huge choice of paper, canvas, fabric, leather, etc. My greatest discovery was the Takeo range of Japanese paper, with its delicate colours and textures. This first stage of a project taught me how to listen, understand the client and steer him in the right direction, but also how to make contact with distributors, manage subcontractors and thus understand their place and their intervention in the production.

As a small apprentice to Laurel and Paul's expert hands, I learnt from them how to make things. My very first hinged box and my first book on tabs were a great source of pride, having never made these objects before. 

The projects follow one another and are all different. This diversity has allowed me to learn constantly and to discover this profession in depth. To cite a few examples, artists' editions such as Regarder les Oiseaux by Françoise Pétrovitch, or the book Rushes from Home 2006-2009 by Nadim Asfar present different bindings and constraints that have to be thought out and adapted before production. The first is a sculptural object that unfolds in space in the form of an Ikebana with original drawings by the artist. The second is a unique photo book, printed in the direction of the fibres on tracing paper with a screw binding.

In addition to the numerous commissioned projects, Laurel and Paul are developing a personal artistic activity. Following their residency at Villa Kujoyama (Japan), they continue their research on paper and its qualities as a sculptural object. 

With Laurel, I experimented and learned to use paper differently. In the design of the kimono, a piece in their Inside OutSide installation presented at the Lambert Collection in Avignon, the paper is folded, then waxed with a natural pigment dye and finally hand-stitched with gold thread, a true work of goldsmith. 

But Laurel's expertise doesn't stop there. Together, we made hand-dyed papers for a classic binding project (leather book with fringed edges) or paper/textile linings using a traditional Japanese technique for the artist's book 245 by Emmanuelle Fructus. This artist's edition was one of my favourite projects, whether for the concept, the realisation or the exchange with the artist.

This year of apprenticeship propelled me into the professional world and allowed me to discover the work and functioning of a craftsman's workshop. Thanks to the Savoir-faire en transmission prize, I have enriched my knowledge of editorial design through the prism of manual work. This new technical knowledge of paper and bookbinding will be an asset for my activity as a graphic designer to be used for future publishing projects. In parallel, this year of immersion is also, and above all, a human adventure, made of exchanges and sharing.

I'd like to thank Laurel and Paul for their warm welcome and kindness." - Agathe Ruelland Remy