David John Lawrence

Irving, Texas
David Lawrence has been a member of the Craft Guild of Dallas since 1998, and has studied with Pamela Leutz and Sally Key. He has also studied in the Czech Republic with Jan and Jarmila Sobota. Lawrence is a member of the Society of Bookbinders in the United Kingdom; the Society of Czech Bookbinders; and the Guild of Book Workers. In 2004 he won the Ladislav Hodny the Elder Award for Aesthetically Most Beautiful Binding, 11th Triennial for Artistic Bookbinding, Czech Republic; and in 2001 received an award from the Society of Bookbinders. Lawrence currently serves as a volunteer instructor at the Craft Guild of Dallas.

Winner: Award for Excellence in Fine Binding

Example Binding: 
Nicholas Shrady. 
Tilt: A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa. First edition.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.

Fine binding in full terra cotta goatskin sewn on raised cords and bands. Plumb bob of turquoise, onyx, and moonstone set in sterling silver by Steven Jay Coben; gold tooled line, blacked tooled arc and title; all edges colored; embroidered silk headbands; decorative papers by Catherine Levine.

Design Description: 
“Circular labyrinths . . . labyrinths even more inextricable and heterogeneous.” Fine binding in full yellow goatskin with onlays of dark, emerald, and lime green goatskins. All edges colored to match yellow leather; double-core silk headbands; blackened tooled title; decorative papers by Catherine Levine; drop-spine box.

The design is inspired by the tortuous text – ever looping on itself but never quite returning to the identical coordinate. “I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars.”