BINDarts_crafts

STORYTELLING

REMEMBERING HOLDING

BIND arts

Every Bind piece—our books, our vessels, our stationery and prints—represents the work of two committed artisans. We open our imaginations to you; you carry our stories on.

STORYTELLING

A riddle, a mystery, a pause. A book is the start of something new and a memory worth keeping.

Beth had written and published some threedozen books of her own before she began making blank books for others. Every book is its own singular thing—a composition built from materials Beth has made, marbled, cyanotyped, collaged, or sourced, then bound using stitching patterns both classic and inventive. Beth’s books open like gifts and close like secrets. They fit in one’s hands. They are enduring.

/ Our BIND books open to quality writing and drawing paper, providing the perfect backdrop for a story’s start, a weekly list, a dream diary, or a sketch that will someday, on another canvas, become a painting. Our Keeper books open to origami wallets, into which ephemera, tickets, feathers, seeds, or any other bit of memorabilia might be slipped.

REMEMBERING

To remember is to call to mind.

We wanted to make art that could mark a place, that would remember for, or when. Beth’s individually crafted and autographed cyanotype bookmarks preserve the frail foliage of ferns, the ambitious leaf structure of cyclamens, and the feathery reach of wheat, pampas grass, and reeds. Bill’s cards feature his muted illustrations of fabulist characters doing memorable things. The bookmarks ensure that readers will not lose their place. The cards carry friendships forward, as well as goodwill, love, and hope.

/ Our cards and mini-notebooks transcend the seasons, providing the perfect medium for an unexpected note of hope, congratulations, love, or possibility.

HOLDING

The earth is a vessel. It holds.

When your neighbor brings a dahlia though you didn’t expect a thing, or the sprig of blooming dogwood must be rescued from the rain, or thyme has broken free of its seeds, is sprouting, Bill’s clay vessels offer sanctuary. He throws some of his pots on the wheel. He hand builds other pieces. There are spouts, handles, hieroglyphic details, the trace of earth colors on an array of textured bodies. If no two pieces are the same, each reflects Bill’s long interest in elemental forms and textures.

/ Our vessels are formed from custom stoneware clays, fired multiple times to achieve their unique color and texture. Each piece is left raw and without glazing, yet is fully vitrified.

Bind by Bind is the creation of Beth Kephart and William Sulit, a writer and an artist who make one-of-a-kind gifts by hand.

A National Book Award finalist who has published some three-dozen books in multiple genres, Beth became obsessed with the book arts when, following her father’s passing, she began to make booklets inside which his memory might be kept. In the years since, she has taught herself the nature and possibilities of a wide range of materials, methods, and bindings.

An artist with a master’s degree in architecture, Bill has worked in a number of media— including clay and illustration—in pursuit of new forms and stories. Married for nearly four decades, Beth and Bill have engaged in a long and meaningful conversation that continues to yield new adventures and surprises.

We make our work available to museum shops, gifts shops, galleries, and pop-up stores. It is also sold through our Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/BINDbyBIND

In addition to our BINDbyBIND shop on Etsy, our work has been seen and sold at the following galleries and retail venues:

JAM Gallery, Malvern, PA

Show of Hands, Philadelphia, PA

36 Craven, Philadelphia, PA

Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

Writers as Artists, Woodstock, NY

Main Point Books, Wayne, PA