Monique Lallier
Monique Lallier has been design binding for fifty years, first with Simone Roy in Montreal, followed by Roger Arnoult in Paris for gold tooling, Edwind Heim in Ascona, and Hugo Peller in Solothurn. She was the director at the American Academy of Bookbinding for 5 years (2005–2009). In her work Lallier enjoys experimenting with different techniques and materials for the design such as: pewter, agate, eggshells, telephone wires, and Kumihimo braids. In 1985 she developed the use of a panel on the front cover that opens to a three-dimensional design. The first panel was on L'Ecorce et le Vent included in the Morgan Library collection in New York. In 2010 Lallier was awarded the Laura Young award by the Guild of BookWorkers. Teaching is important to her and she continues to teach in her studio in Greensboro, N.C. The challenges, experimentations, frustrations, and mostly pure joy, is Lallier's life as a bookbinder. She has no plans to retire.
Winner: Award for Excellence in Fine Binding
Example Binding:
Chevalier, Gabriel. Clochmerle.
Illustrator: Albert Dubout.
Ernest Flammarion, Editor. 1934.
Lallier first bound this book in 1974 and didn't make a box to protect it. The light green leather faded and she decided to redo it with a "montage sur onglets" (sewn on stubs). Since she liked the outcome, she used part of it for the new binding. The story and the illustrations are whimsical and Lallier wanted to give this feel to the design with curvy lines and circles, some with the old design realized with leather onlays and tooling. The design includes edge to edge leather doublures with lines and circles that transfer to the suede flyleaf. Clamshell box.
Design Description:
Lallier’s interpretation of the poem is as follows: Life is like a river and our actions reflect in it. To illustrate the river she did "craquely" with white acrylic paint. Brown calf skin with five red leather pieces to represent the five poems. The title is on the front cover. The letters are laser cut by Sarah Pike. The book will be sewn on stubs to protect the text block. Clamshell box.
