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About Me


                            

 

• Jo from No Books Were Harmed is a self taught, full time designer maker of no-cut, hand folded, reclaimed book art sculpture & workshop facilitator based in Moray, Scotland, who supplies a number of national & international retailers, private collectors & art galleries with their folded book art needs & exhibits her work at select events throughout Scotland • 

 

No Books Were Harmed In The Making Of This...
I create every piece of my book art sculptures by making 100s or 1000s of careful folds within the pages of reclaimed, preowned & vintage hardbacked books.  Nothing you see has been cut, torn, or otherwise 'trickified'!

I live in Mosstodloch in the beautiful North East of Scotland. I create my pretties just a stone's throw from the River Spey.

After leaving school at 15 I flitted around a few jobs before settling into the family business, and that's where I stayed for almost 20 years. I enjoyed working as a pet shop assistant & professional dog walker, and continued to do so for the whole of No Books Were Harmed's first year; but a year to the day after No Books Were Harmed.co.uk came to life, I gave up the day job to focus solely on this genuinely life changing passion of mine. 
I share my home and life with Mr No Books, our dogs, cat and house ferret.  You may notice a lot of my folds have an animal / countryside theme.  I guess painters paint what they see, and I fold what I know!

                                                                      
It started with a book...it turned into a passion. 
Never having had any interest in arts or crafts, no one was more stunned than me when I began folding the pages of my precious books.  An avid bibliophile for most of my life, I hold books in great esteem.  I have always had a profound respect for them....treat them with care, don't write on them or deface them, and I always use a bookmark! It took me all my time to reconcile my conscience to the fact that I am taking unwanted, pre-owed & vintage books, and ONLY hand folding them, to give them a new lease of life.  Rescuing them from their sure fate of the nearest landfill, and gently rehabilitating them into a pleasing form which will hopefully afford them 'life' for another generation or so ♥

After a few weeks of playing with my new found addiction, spending every spare minute (minutes I didn't think I had) folding books, experimenting with different design methods, different folding methods, different pattern making methods, I agreed to lend a few of my creations to a pal for her new cafe's window display. Instantly, I was blindsided by people wanting to buy them. I spent a couple of months saying 'no, no, no'. I hadn't made them to sell, I wasn't a business.  Quite sure this would be a flash in the pan, I swithered and pondered, but I couldn't imagine it would be worth the time or paperwork of becoming self employed...and then one Saturday, the Hollywood actress, Tilda Swinton asked to buy one of my books.  And I declined. The following week, I registered No Books Were Harmed In the Making Of This as a business - and I've never looked back!

One year to the day from establishing No Books Were Harmed.co.uk, I left my day job after 20 years of working there.   This vocation of mine had bloomed so quickly and organically into a wondrous being in its own right, I simply had to take the jump to nurture it. In the years since establishing No Books Were Harmed, I have never worked so hard (100+ hour weeks are normal) nor been so sated, and it's all thanks to the continued support of my amazing clientele and stockists! 
I continue to be humbled by the support, interest and custom I receive every day, and am delighted to have my pretties stocked in a number of smashing outlets throughout the UK, Europe and USA.  I travel around the country, popping up as #NoBooksOnTour.com at events and shopping venues, and facilitate book folding workshops & demonstrations all over.
The majority of my work are commission pieces and I just love working with my clients to bring their idea/image to life in a book. In between commissions I add to my every growing catalogue.  Most of what you see in my album has already gone to its forever home, but can be refolded to order.

I'm a one-woman band, so if I can be any help at all, you can be sure you're speaking to the chief cook and bottle washer, however you choose to contact me :)  

~ Jo

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fine & commercial artist • national & international delivery • home of the original BOOK pARTy • freelance tutor • trade & gallery enquiries welcome