Very early Sunday morning of February 8th, HPI staff members Jennifer and I (Yona), headed out from southern California to Berkeley for the second ever Codex Symposium as a vendor at the Bookfair that went on from Feb. 8-11th. This was a first for HPI as well as a first for Jennifer and I being on our own, so we had to prepare for the unknown. What we did know was that it would be a gathering of fine book artists, printmakers, curators, collectors, and more. We were not only right, but was also overwhelmed by the number of book art vendors and their works. There was too much to see in one room! Perhaps luckily for us, our booth was situated outside of the main room with other suppliers. We were able to enter the larger room of exhibits on our breaks and join the crowds.
Our booth itself was covered with our paper (Yucatan, Katazome, Gampi Torinoko, Mohachi, Anna Amalia, and Brazilian Banana), all of our sample books, our latest catalogue, inkjet/digital samplers, and Orihon. Behind us loomed our display board with cut out samples of Gampi, Kozo, Berlin Tissue, and more, which people were free to walk up to feel. I would say our booth was like a peek into our store in Bergamot!
Despite being new at Codex, we felt very welcomed by the other exhibitors, several being acquaintances of Hiromi and our paper. We were delighted each time someone would stop by to show us our paper in their beautiful books, and we learned alot from that experience. To top it off, Jennifer and I were able to spend the mornings visiting various studios and get a first hand look into their world and how our paper is used.
Pictured above is Jennifer and David Kimball of Magnolia Editions next to one of their newest printers, which can print on just about anything! Next, we visited the Zukor Art Conservation studio, receiving a look into the world of conservation. The place was also very tidy and bright, we loved it there. Kala Art Institute was another must-see in Berkeley, we learned quite a bit touring the different workstations and the gallery. One of our guides Kazuko showed us some of her etchings as well as the Aya rolls we sent her, I hope to see more of her work in the future! Next, we visited Paulson Press and were very fortunate to catch them in the process of etching. It sure looks like a fun job! 🙂 Last, but certainly not least, we visited Hiromi’s good friends Miyuki of Miki’s Paper and fellow Codex exhibitor John DeMerritt who showed us the binding of our Gampi paper to the spine of their latest book project, which needless to say was very neat to see.
So, we had a lovely, though short, time at Berkeley in our booth at Codex as well as out in the city, visiting studios and HPI friends.
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