Atelier Kaftwerk, artisan bookbinding

Atelier Kaftwerk, artisan bookbinding

It is so mundane, whenever we grasp a book to read, immerse ourselves into its story lines and associate ourselves with the characters in question, we never think about the serious effort it takes, to make a book show up on the shelf and eventually wind up in our laps.

I'm not referring to affordable mass market paperbacks and even hardbacks though. Those are printed by the countless thousands using industrial machinery.

Nah, I'm talking about the age-old craft of manually bookbinding. Think about all those old books in the libraries and private collections,....and with 'old', I do mean 'old'...dating back decades, a century or even several centuries.

Those books do need some tender loving care from time to time, restoring & rebinding them close to their original state, and there are some particular folks out there who do appreciate age-old craftmanship, who order specially customized bound books.

And here comes Inge Van Poeck into the equation. Being groomed and taught by a 'master' of the trade since her early twenties, she has by now accumulated tons of experience needed to handle such delicate tasks and eventually becoming a bookbinding expert herself.

Roel & Inge remodeled an old section of their house into a work studio. Where she is able to use and hone her skills on these precious documents and books,....combining that with managing a busy household just a few steps away.

The meticulous process of binding books is primarily done by hand, with barely any use of automated machinery. 

Looks simple, but I reckon it isn't as easy as it looks though. 

If you have an impatient streak, the job of binding books is definitely not your cup of tea. I guess it will take precious man hours just to produce one copy. Becoming rich by doing this trade? Nah, how many books can one bind in a certain time span.....just pure love for the trade of book binding.....

Is it a dying profession? Not exactly, but artisan book binders like Inge are few and far between.  It's not like schools or colleges have the art of bookbinding on their curriculum....it's just sheer learning by practising and doing it under the watchful tutelage of a master.

Don't know whether the children of the Van Roosbroeck's household will pick up the trade, but it would be a shame if all this ends with Inge one day.  

Still enough time for one of us to sign up as an apprentice? Or why don't you give it a try? :)

My dear friend's friendly entourage

My dear friend's friendly Entourage

Few years ago I honoured my former classmate, Roel V.R. and his family with a visit by myself.  To refresh your memory, just click on the below link :)

http://yuenslair.blogspot.com/2010/04/hakendover.html

It was such an extraordinary and wonderful experience that I made it a point of visiting them with the two ladies of the house when we were back in Belgium for the holidays.

The family Van Roosbroecks are not exactly natives of this quaint little village, set in the rolling hills and fields of Hageland, Flanders, far enough but still conveniently close by to the cities of Tienen and Leuven. 

They actually moved from an urban environment, forsaking all the convenience that a city offers and escaping to a small little village where they had to start from scratch....which is no mean feat. 

But that hasn't stopped them from becoming an integral part of the local community in no time. Largely thanks to their open and social attitude, and I'm referring to every single family member of the 'household'.  Their door is practically open to everyone of this little town, people dropping by to have an impromptu chit chat, neighbouring kids jumping into their barn and back garden to play with the 3 children of the household.....quite lively indeed. And even hitting the headlines of the regional newspaper when Roel placed a parking meter in front of their house and that in a village devoid of any parking meters.....;-p (just ask him why he did it, his explanation made some solid reason)

I knew what to expect of course, having known Roel, sharing joy and grief together since high school. Ofcourse years down the road, everyone living their own lives, we kinda lost touch with each other, but I still fondly remember the good times we have had at and outside school. 

Jess and Laetitia were not too sure what to expect, so great was their surprise when we were welcomed with genuinely open arms and affection. The kids of the family, ....showered my two lady companions with so much attention and love that it almost made them blush...

The ice was quickly melted and despite the language barrier, both our families warmed to eachother :)

Jess was positively awestruck during the inevitable tour around their house and surroundings......I'm quite positive if we have had the financial means at that moment, any real estate sales man would have scored an immediate hit on this particular day of our visit ;-)

And the lady of the house, Inge, created a mean, delightful dish of Belgian specialty.....'witloof'....chicory, wrapped within bacon rolls....Us, more accustomed to Asian and South Asian cuisine, having multiple dishes on the dining table, we were already wondering whether the 'witloof' dish and mashed potatoes were sufficient enough to feed so many mouths, but much to our very surprise it was packing enough energy and nutrients to make us feel bloated after just a few bites.....definitely an eye-opener for us in terms of cooking. 

By the time dinner was finished, a common universal theme is that every member of the household would retreat and settle in front of the television but in today's world, each and everyone is occupying themselves with their own electronic gadgets.......watching television has taken the back stage, that's for sure.

Everyone jumped up though at just the notion of all of us going out for an evening walk down the well trodden path among the dark farm fields, heading to the village center, burning some calories and having a fresh breath of air.

And the little hike wouldn't be complete without stopping by at some of the Van Roosbroeck's friends, ....which in this case, was conveniently a pub :)

The pub or cafe hasn't officially opened its doors yet (still undergoing some minor renovation), but nevertheless, Bart the pub owner, was so kind enough to treat us all with drinks and a local speciality dessert, Limburgse vlaai.....cheers Bart!!!

Top that with a quick visit to a friend's place for some good banter and a drink....

Life's beautiful indeed.....

Now I fully understand how they manage to integrate themselves so quickly into the social fabric of this little town. Their social attitude is an example, not only for us, but I reckon for most of the folks too, be they living in this part of the planet or on the other other side of the globe.

Thanks a lot to the Van R's and their treasured friends for the generous, genuine hospitality....:) It was "keineig"

't Schoon Verdiep - Antwerp City Hall

't Schoon Verdiep - Stadhuis van Antwerpen aka Antwerp City Hall,

Born in Antwerp, ..... lived in the suburbs of THE happening town of Belgium, .....practically passed by this particular building every single day during my early teens, and ow yeah, mum and pop getting married in that very same building.....ofcourse am talking about City Hall of Antwerp,......but somehow, I have never ever set foot inside this grand old building.

Always found it a bit odd that this building has been attracting so many tourists and honestly a bit queer....I don't want to be seen as a photo-snapping Japanese tourist too.

Until......

As luck would have it, discovered that Els A., a former high school classmate, works as a civil servant for the City of Antwerp, and more specifically, her assigned work place is ...yeah, you guess it right, ....City Hall !!!  "Smashing ;-)"

A kind word and a gentle enquiry, and Els A. arranged an exclusive private tour for our humble family.

I knew that the building was old, but I didn't expect it to be THAT old, ....a bit of googling and found out this renaissance styled building was erected in the late 16th century....wow, we are talking about 500 years of history.  

Not surprising though that the building is stuffed to the brim with tons of memorabilia, exquisite and fine pieces of art,....honestly, our household was in awe of such magnificent display of richly history.

Especially this particular floor, where all the official rooms are located, is simply gobsmackingly beautiful.  No wonder the locals call it " 't Schoon Verdiep", literally translated as "the Beautiful Floor". 

If I remember correctly, Els A. guided us through all the rooms except the mayor's office,...guess would have been asking bit too much, after all, it IS the mayor's office ;-) (the lad deserves some bit of respect and he can make do without an intrusion from us lot). Nonetheless, managed to snap a picture of his front door (better than nothing!! :-p)

A big thumbs up for Els though, even though she is not a qualified guide, she managed to squeeze in anecdotes about the history of the building of which we were totally unaware of, making our visit thus more exciting and expanding our knowledge, inclusive mine.

Undoubtedly, moment supreme was the councillors' meeting room.  It simply oozes history, standing and sitting there, we got a feeling of being immersed in the rich history of this UNESCO Heritage listed building.

SPQA : The Senate and People of Antwerp....or is it Jess & Laetitia rule?

In short, we were totally awestruck.....in a positive way ofcourse.

Well, got that sorted out, wife and kid now realize where I come from....the Big A...not Apple but Antwerp :)

Big thanks and hugs to Els A., thank you for the memorable tour from the three of us....our heartfelt thanks x

A for Awesome? Nah, make that A for Antwerp & A for Anthoni ;-)!!!