Meet my muse, Hypatia (pronounced hi-PAY-sha).
Think ancient Alexandria, the metropolis of Egypt, at its peak and the indisputable capital of the world – commercially, intellectually, spiritually, and artistically. Visitors from all parts of the world, led into this harbor by the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were required to surrender all books and scrolls in their possession which were added to the greatest library of the ancient world holding over 700,000 volumes, making it an arsenal of knowledge that was astounding for its time.
The Great Library became a symbol for knowledge itself. Hypatia was born into this and spectacularly overcoming the profound sexism of her society, became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria, and became renowned as a great teacher and wise counselor.
When I take into my hands bundles of breathtakingly beautiful textured and deckled-edge papers skillfully handmade of natural materials, I imagine the thousands of scrolls gathered into this great Library inscribed with works represented in every field of knowledge and art from around the world – scrolls that were to be bound into the first true codices to transport this knowledge and beauty to greater parts of the world.
And it is in reverence and awe of the book form as an instrument of unfettered exchanges of knowledge, sacred words, innermost thoughts and expressions of beauty that I humbly and lovingly handcraft the collections of Hypatia Book Arts, and bless them! Is it any wonder that one of my most beloved bindings is an ancient Ethiopian Coptic stitching?!
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