I can't fit on one page!
Sewn book binding is a classic with a specific beauty. But what if you need the full width of the book for the imagery? A double page will never open completely flat, and the very centre of the artistic intention will be laced with threads. When you want to present large-scale visualisations of the Walter's longhouses in a valuable way, one classic page is simply not enough.
Tomáš Beránek from the Creative Friends studio approached us with a request for Flatbook, a book binding in which entire pages are glued together. His client Penta Real Estate wanted a representative publication of the new development project Waltrovka. The required solution of book construction using a demanding flat binding was chosen deliberately, taking into account the distinctly horizontal profile of the buildings. The extensive visualisations and floor plans would have been transferred from page to page in a traditional binding, and the stitching and paper folds would have distorted the final impression.
Why is traditional flat weave complicated? There are several complications.
Full page gluing means you have kilos of glue in every large publication without exaggeration.
The resulting bundle therefore dries for a really long time. And it tends to twist until the last moment before the internal tension caused by the glue dries down.
Double pages are often hard as stone. Remember the old children's books? They lasted through everything, but flipping through them was a bit of an ordeal.
So we didn't like this standard method and with our colleagues from Protrade we developed our own method. We did without water-based or hot-melt adhesives, and we didn't use self-adhesive foils either. For now, we can only reveal that our flat binding is dry in one go, so it can do without the technological pause that the client usually doesn't have the patience for. The pages are also beautifully pliable and turn almost as easily as a regular book.
Waltrovka has finally 74 pages printed by offset on coated, 200 gram paper with matt lamination. The boards are sturdy, dressed in Corvon Metal-X Weave in the shade of Steel. The latex finish and Corvon's distinctive metallic texture are perfectly deceptive to the body, so that the surface does not at first glance resemble paper at all. Moreover, it fits brilliantly with the Metalica and Legatica buildings of the Walter project. The design ensemble is crowned with special silver embossing on the plates.
Bookmaking is a classic craft and we love it as such. But that doesn't mean we want to preserve it. On the contrary, we have seen many times that the combination of tradition and modern techniques or materials gives it new breath and surprising possibilities. It will always live with us. And nothing is ever definitive in living craftsmanship. Just the pursuit of maximum quality using all, standard, proven, safe, but also new, alternative and even risky procedures. That's why we love challenging projects. We enjoy pushing the boundaries. And to find new ones. And don't worry, we take risks. It's no different when we only want the best for you!
