Johnston
Grace Roth Johnston wrote her memoir in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. My client, one of her grandsons, wanted to produce the memoir in an elegant manner for generations to come. There would be seven sections, all letterpress printed. I asked whether someone in the family might have table linens that had belonged to Grace, which I could make into paper for the covers. Vintage linens then arrived, including a lace tablecloth! I pulped the linens into the cover paper and suggested pressing a piece of that lace into the still-damp paper, creating an embossed pattern.
Cover dimensions: 6½” x 10″
Edition size: 30
Binding: Stitched with silk linen thread at Bari Zaki Studio in Chicago
The handmade paper elevated the entire “Johnston” project. The covers are so tactile, they feel like fabric, and just holding one of the booklets in your hands draws you into the story. You really are holding a family heirloom, with my grandmother’s DNA literally in the paper. And Pam’s idea to have one cover actually look like the beautiful lace tablecloth was a stroke of creative inspiration.
– Curtiss Taylor, Delighted Client
