Paper Moon Bindery Brings Fine Binding and Book Restoration to the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair
Fine binding, custom enclosures, and restoration from a Philadelphia studio
Olivia Barber is a Philadelphia-based bookbinder whose work under the Paper Moon Bindery name spans three distinct areas: fine binding and design commissions, custom enclosures, and book restoration. She works at AKA Bindery, a Philadelphia studio with a reputation for high-quality restoration and custom boxes for rare books. Her practice is grounded in the tradition of the book as a crafted object — one where the structure, cover material, and finishing decisions are as intentional as the text inside.
At the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair, visitors will find Paper Moon Bindery's handmade paper, cards, notebooks, and boxes— work that demonstrates the range from functional beauty to collector-grade fine binding. Barber's restoration work includes rebacking and rebinding historic volumes, including sets on the history of Philadelphia, and her design binding commissions take on projects where the cover becomes a considered response to the content within.
She has studied fine binding and restoration at the American Academy of Bookbinding, North Bennet Street School, and Penland School of Crafts.
Paper Moon Bindery represents the kind of bookbinding practice that treats every structure as a problem worth solving well and every book as a worthwhile endeavor.
