6-Week Course — From Idea to Edition
Time: Sundays, 10 am – 5 pm (PST) one hour lunch break at noon (lunch is covered by course fee).
Instructor: Matthew Austin
Where: 2012 Stoner Ave, Unit B, Los Angeles, CA 90025
5 students maximum
This course is designed for those interested in books but does not require students to have extensive experience in books. If you happen to have lots of experience in books, all the better.
While students are encouraged to bring their own favorite hand tools, we will utilize the studio resources to their capacity to serve the student’s creative projects and visions. This may include: inkjet printing, digital offset printing, foil stamping, sewing, board cutting, paper trimming, perfect binding, vacuum feed folding, hand-bookbinding techniques, and more.
By producing an edition of 25 in this course, students will hone their editioning skills and methods through the guidance of the instructor. Students are typically utilizing this course with a creative project in mind, but if only wishing to learn the bookbinding practices, students can also design an edition of notebooks (no interior content needed).
PLEASE NOTE: The only studio materials that are covered by the course fee are limited to the varieties stocked in-house. Primarily this typically includes bookboard as it is a non-creative, structural choice—we cannot cover the costs of the specific cloths, papers, etc. that the artist wishes to acquire for their uniquely designed project.
Also not covered by the course fee is printing charges, however these will be made available at a significantly reduced rate via a pricing sheet given to students on the first day of class. Anything specialty to the student’s project should be purchased before and/or through the class—they are welcome to have those materials shipped to the studio and stored for the duration of the course.
Additional access hours are available at an hourly rate outside of course meeting hours. Once this course is completed, students have the option of paying an hourly or day rate to utilize the resources of the studio after the course is over.
Images show studio perspectives from the 2024 iteration of this course, as well as detailed shots of the swiss-bound edition of Kindsong by Zoe Lemelson, made entirely in this course.
Matt Austin is a designer, bookbinder, and publisher based in Los Angeles, California. He founded Candor Arts, an imprint and production resource for artist books. He is the founder and studio manager of For the Birds Trapped in Airports.
Request additional dates for this course to run by emailing studio@forthebirdstrappedinairports.com.
