About Us
Who we are
Thankyou for visiting us. We're Jason and Samantha, a husband and wife bookbinding team. We make all of our journals and binders by hand, using beautiful full-grain leather, in our small workshop in Northampton, England.
Our work has appeared in film & television; travelled the world from the top of Everest to the Antarctic; carried into warzones; crossed deserts; used by Bishops, artists, composers & authors; recorded births, deaths & marriages; they've contained the most public of events and the most private of thoughts.
Samantha has a background in fine art sculpture and Jason has a background in traditional crafts and we haven't stopped making things together since we first met in 1991. When we first started we sold at fairs and festivals across Britain but we now concentrate on selling online.
Our workshop is also our home, where we surround ourselves with the things that inspire us. So, as our tagline says, it really is the home of the handmade journal.
The other members of our team are Tanner (OTRB 2008 - 2024) & Hob, the Border Terriers; they act as mascots and morale boosters. When we're not in the workshop you can find us out exploring the Northamptonshire countryside. We're inspired by nature, history and folklore and we get most of our ideas while out walking.
Our Ethics
It seems to be the trend at the moment for businesses to declare their ethics. We feel uncomfortable about doing this because we think that all businesses should run ethically, it really should go without saying. However, we are a little worried that if everybody else does it and we don't, you might think that we don't have any, so here goes.....
HONESTY is the best policy. We like to think that we make an honest product from honest materials and that we always treat our customers honestly.
HANDMADE means handmade. We make all of our books completely by hand using traditional methods, in our workshop in Northampton, England.
QUALITY materials often cost a little more. The leathers that we use originate from within Europe where people are paid a fair wage and are protected by health and safety regulations. This also ensures that the leathers are tanned well and will not deteriorate. We buy these leathers from small local companies and we have developed a good relationship with our suppliers over the years which means that we can be sure of the consistent quality of our leather.
GREEN is our favourite colour. All of our paper is 100% recycled and unbleached, this saves huge amounts of water, energy and trees. Our leather is vegetable tanned rather than chrome tanned, this is much friendlier to the environment and creates a far superior leather which should last for generations. When you receive your item it will be wrapped and boxed in plastic-free and fully recyclable packaging.