Date: April 5-6, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm | Presenter: John DeMerritt

Boxmaking has its origins as a tributary of 19th bookbinding craft. Using the same techniques and materials as bookbinding, boxmaking also utilizes simple principles of joinery to create housings that protect work and reinforce content. In this workshop, we will explore a systematic and formula-based approach to creating the dropspine, or “clamshell” box structure. Students will spend the workshop exploring the construction a uniform sized clamshell box. A kit of cut substrate materials and covering materials will be provided by the instructor, along with adhesives and a basic tool list. We’ll use this time to go over covering techniques, miters, cutting sequences, templates, formulas and adhesive awareness. Time allowing, we will also discuss techniques for cutting binders’ board without a board shear, formula based approaches to cutting box components, reviewing covering techniques, and exploring other related box structures. An online syllabus comprised of handouts, online resources and short instructive videos will be provided, along with a thorough resource list.

Presenter Bio: John DeMerritt owns and operates John DeMerritt Bookbinding, in Emeryville, CA. His studio produces books and portfolios for artists, galleries, fine press publishers and institutions.

John has taught and lectured at The SF Center for the Book, The Kala Institute, Columbia College Center for Book and Paper, Visual Studies Workshop, Oregon College or Arts and Craft, The Guild of Bookworkers, The North Bennett Street School, UC Santa Cruz, Dartmouth College, Mullowney Printmaking, Paper and Book Intensive and the Penland School of Craft.

From 2000 to 2013, he taught Book Structure at the San Francisco Art Institute.

John and his wife, Nora Pauwels, publish collaborative projects with artists under their imprint DeMerritt | Pauwels Editions.