21 Sep A Week in the Bindery

Behind the Scenes at Hipwell

A Week in the Bindery: What Actually Comes Through Our Doors

Our customers often ask us what a “typical” job looks like at Hipwell.

The honest answer is there isn’t one. On any given week our bench might be split between a single hand-bound copy for a local designer or artist or a three-thousand-run production, destined for a sleek coffee table in Chelsea.

It is the part of the job we love most.

Here, we pull back the curtain on a week at Hipwell, sharing the stories of a few special projects.

The week started small and personal. Pete Kennedy, a local designer, needed a run of centre-sewn Swissbound books for a book fair in Oxford; twenty copies, needing the precise craft and care Hipwell’s are famous for. Swissbound isn’t a structure we’re asked for every day: the exposed spine and visible sewing become part of the design; a way to celebrate and share the design.

At the same time, a young designer on the Graphics course at Sheffield Hallam University came to us with a trickier brief. Her book used short sections, which ruled out some of the more straightforward binding methods available. We advised and agreed on Coptic binding; a structure that lets the book lie genuinely flat and turns the stitching itself into a feature. Four copies were produced, and the feedback on the finished result earned her accolades from her tutors.

From small run personal orders to large scale

Further down the bench, the scale changed entirely. A school had ordered 125 PUR casebound yearbooks, which had spent the weekend drying under weights before they could be trimmed and finished. And rounding off the week, a 3,000-run of centre-sewn coffee table books for a hospitality client kept the sewing machines running well past the usual hour.

Why this matters if you’re briefing a job

If you’re a designer or print buyer wondering whether Hipwell is the right fit for your project, hopefully this answers it: whether you need one meticulous copy or several thousand identical ones, the same standards apply at every stage.

Share your ideas and concepts

If your next brief doesn’t fit a standard template or you want to just explore how your concept could develop into your envisaged final project, get in touch and we can help formulate your idea.

Side sewing

Layflat binding

Finished books ready for collection

Centre sewing

3 Hole Sewing

Exposed spine