“Hello! I’m Caroline and I make hand-bound books in a variety of different binding designs. I have a four year old Rough Collie called Cody and love walking around the local fields with him where we often see barn owls, roe deer, hares, foxes and lots of butterflies and dragon flies.

My job “in a previous life” was as a Global Property Underwriter working in London for an Italian Reinsurance Company. I worked for them for 20 years before finally saying “goodbye”. I moved back to Cambridge in 2006 and now live with my brother who is severely sight impaired.

I took up bookbinding after attending a basic course several years ago and have gone on to learn different binding techniques with the aid of social media. My speciality is Stab Binding - an ancient Japanese art form of binding using decorative stitching.

Single sheets of paper and decorative covers are sewn together to make a book. I love to create my own designs for the stitching, which - if sewn correctly - give an identical design on the reverse of the book. I do the sewing with one continuous thread to avoid joins and some of my designs take up to three metres of thread - difficult to keep it from knotting!

I mostly use marbled paper, much of which I also make, for the covers of my books. I love the way that colours floated on a viscous substance can be combed into so many different patterns. It’s easy to get lost in the magical artistry of paper marbling. I am happy to take commissions so please get in touch for more information.

You can find me, and my books, every Saturday on All Saints Garden Craft Market in Cambridge. It’s a beautiful setting where you can find up to 28 market traders all selling handmade goods - nothing mass produced!” — CAROLINE