Hello and Welcome!
I am a Taiwanese-Canadian hand bookbinder and paper marbler located in downtown Toronto since 2006. I custom make one-off or small editions of books, presentation boxes, leather fine art bindings or jewellery boxes and decorative papers for individual collectors, libraries or institutions. My specialization is in the grand tradition of French Art binding - Reliure d'Art .
I graduated from University of Toronto with a Masters degree in Architecture and also graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto with a Bachelor degree in Architectural science. My eight years of architectural training have given me the most solid foundation in design. During which time, I also studied classical painting techniques for 3 years at Toronto Academy of Realist Art ( John Angel Studio ).
I started bookbinding in 1990s through CBBAG (Canadian Bookbinders & Bookartists Guild) in Toronto with Don Taylor, Betsy Palmer Elderidge and furthered my training in bookbinding with Masterbinder Monique Lallier & Don Etherington at AAB (American Academy of Bookbinding) in Colorado USA, where I was awarded the "Tini Miura Scholarship", selected by the masterbinder herself. Later on, I received my full-time intensive private training in French reliure d'art technique with Tini at her California studio for more than a month. Subsequently, I also invited Tini to teach workshops at CBBAG and had private lessons with her afterwards. I also attended a workshop at the Center for the Bookarts in NYC with Masterbinder Luigi Castiglioni of Italy.
I taught several workshops in bookbinding at CBBAG in the past and participated in Designer Bookbinders International Competitions UK twice with my submitted bindings chosen for its touring exhibitions. In 2012, I had the honour of being invited to participate in Album Amicorum - an Internaltional marbling exhibition in Turkey, USA and Europe. Only a handful of the world's leading marblers were referred and personally invited by Turkey's Ebru (marbling) master Hikmet Barutcugil of Ebristan.
Mostly self-taught in marbling since 2000, I have been marbling, experimenting and developing my own unique takes on the traditional marbling art which I coined the term "Marbled Graphics"™. Collections of my marbling art and bindings can be found worldwide in private collections or libraries, most notably in Thomas Fisher Rarebooks Library of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Harvard University, Boston and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. You can now purchase my marbling art directly on my website shop or purchase in person in Toronto!
Besides bookbinding and marbling, I also occasionally do letterpress printing with a floor model antique Gordon treadle press and an antique Sigwalt tabletop press for printing stationery, invitations or business cards. In my spare time, I enjoy playing the piano and the cello with a local orchestra. Phew! Where do I find the time to do all these!
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to commission a binding, discuss about bookbinding projects, or would like to purchase my marbling art. I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you.