Chair of Warrants Committee, John Livingston visits Warrant Holder Charfleet Bindery

Last Friday Charfleet Book Bindery, received a visit from John Livingston Chair of the Warrants Committee. Charfleet were recently granted the prestigious Stationer’s Warrant for their Colour Block range of distinctive British made premium notebooks.

John reflected that it is poignant when there is so much bad news, that each brightly coloured note book is embossed with a single optimistic word. You can choose from: laugh, love, happy, dream, hope or live.

He was impressed that each book is hand bound by skilled craftsmen and carefully inspected before it leaves the factory.

Charfleet Book Bindery own a number of iconic brands including Leathersmith, Dataday, and At-A-Glance, however most of their growth is in the bespoke premium end of the market. Richard Howe production manager introduced him to some highly skilled members of the team who were finishing leather bound books by hand. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about skiving at work,” Joked John, “Until I saw the highly skilled process of chamfering the edges of a leather book cover to produce a flawless finish”.

Reviewing the visit John borrowed a phrase from Sir John Betjeman: “They are craftsmen to their fingertips”.