Who I am

I am Ben Elbel, a French bookbinder, mostly known for my exploration of bookbinding structures, and the originator of designs such as the onion skin binding, the elbum, the pixel binding, to name just a few.

I have been a independent bookbinder since 2008. 

Together with my partner in business and in life Kieke, we have been suppliers to the hospitality industry (making restaurant menus in the thousands!), we ran a print and bind service, and for the last ten years mostly serve the rare book world and occasionally do editions for publishers. 

I also have lots of experience in teaching: in person, online and in written form (tutorials). During my time in the UK I taught extensively at the London Centre for Book Arts, Shepherds or BINDING re:DEFINED. In 2014 I did a tour across the USA, teaching at Penland School of Crafts, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, San Francisco Center for the book, to name just a few. Around the same time I was the first to successfully run online classes, teaching to bookbinders in Europe, USA and Asia. 

I am passionate about pedagogy, how to pass on knowledge, because I am passionate about this quirky craft of bookbinding, and if you are reading this, you probably are too.