What is the future for U.S. bookbinders in an era of digital books and overseas manufacturing?
The trade has not gone away, but it isn’t what it was when the Guild of Book Workers was first established in 1906. According to a story in The Los Angeles Times, bookbinders have had to be nimble to survive. Check it out:
“It will … never be as much as it used to be,” said Mariana Blau, who runs A-1 Bookbinding, which has been operating in downtown Los Angeles for 55 years. She employs two full-time workers, down from a peak of nine.
Blau’s company has kept going partly through high-end projects for Hollywood actors and directors who want to commemorate films they have been part of, as well as jobs for other specialty clients.
It’s no wonder the industry is not attracting much young talent. Nowadays the majority of professionals that bind books are 55 or older.