As precious as paper

While the world’s trees are breathing easier because of mankind’s shift to pixels instead of pulp, Phantipa Thanchookiet and Mali Chaturachinda just won’t let paper go.

They’re the ladies who make the distinctive, completely handmade notebooks sold by Likaybindery, their own brand (combining their nicknames, Li and Kay – nothing to do with the classical dance-drama).

It’s a time-consuming process, and in six years they’ve produced only about 250 books for an admittedly niche market.

No two are the same, though. Colour and fibre vary. Between every page left blank for your jottings is another adorned with collectibles like old postcards, railway tickets, calling cards and cut-out pictures, mixed in with evocative typography and graphic designs.

The books are art objects, formed with texture |and pattern and awaiting your interaction as you move through the sheaves.

Now, for Likaybindery’s seventh anniversary, its new subsidiary Likay Smallpress has a book titled “Confession”.

Phantipa bought a fully refurbished tabletop Adana Eight-Five letterpress and has created a hand-bound book of 366 pages, all blank except for the hand-printed phrase “Have I Told You Lately that I....”

Rod Stewart, of course, finished with the words “love you”, but you can fill it in any way you like. “Text has its own meaning”, though, says Phantipa, who trained in typography and book art in Britain. “There’s no need to add anything that might overwhelm its charm.

“If we don’t say, ‘Have I told you lately that I love you’, what other words might we say? So this is like a diary where you can record your personal thoughts every day of the year, or even ask your friends to say something,” explains Phantipa, who also teaches “experimental book design” at Chulalongkorn and Bangkok universities.

The pages were sewn together, and each one painstakingly torn at the edges. The book costs Bt4,050 at the Geo shop on Soi Thonglor, and its already in its third edition.

“People might consider the price high,” Phantipa says, “but it’s all done meticulously by hand – arranging the lead type, adjusting the typesetting, spacing it to justify the text, printing and sewing every page.”

Phantipa fell in love with letterpress printing during a 2007 workshop at Japan’s Printing Museum. She learned more online and finally decided to purchase a press of her own from a company in the UK.

“I love the beauty of lead type. It’s a process that you’re involved in every step of the way. Last year in London I met Roy Caslon from the company where I bought the machine and asked him to show me every step.

“It’s not difficult, but as a crafting technique it involves many different processes. A computer automatically inserts the spaces and sets out the words according to the desired pre-set template. With manual printing, the most difficult process is arranging each letter and spacing everything to produce a beautiful result.”

Likaybindery’s first books went on sale at Geo in 2005, ranging in size from matchbox to A4 and in price from Bt300 to Bt3,000. There were a lot of cut-out birds and postage stamps layered between feather-bedecked covers of dipped fancy paper. Other covers bore radio buffs’ QSL cards and miniature portraits of famous people.

More recently there was the book called “Back to School” – a notebook, pencil and pencil sharpener inside a hardened-paper box with a cover made on the letterpress. And “Peek-a-boo ... I See You!” was two notebooks in a paper box where bear and zebra dolls were also hiding.

The books are so intriguing that many people are keen to make their own, and Phantipa conducts bookbinding classes at her home on Sukhumvit Soi 35.

There are just five students per class, so far ranging in age from 15 to 60. They learn six methods – case binding for hardcover books, chain stitching, single sheets and the Japanese techniques of kikko toji, asanoha and yotsume.

“Once you make a book yourself, you truly appreciate the whole process,” Phantipa says. “Every binding technique has its own charm.”

>>>
- Likaybindery and Likay Smallpress books are sold at the Geo shop on Soi Thonglor, opposite Camillian Hospital. It’s open daily from 10 to 7. Call (02) 381 4324.
- The 16-hour book-binding course costs Bt5,500, which covers all materials. Classes are held on Saturdays. Find out more at (089) 699 6509 and www.LikayBindery.blogspot.com.
>>>