Deciding on Investing in the highest quality albums & prints.
- By Jared Lim
- 2 min reading time
So we get this question a lot. Why would anyone spend so much on our albums when there are much cheaper photo books available?
First of all, let me preface this by saying that everyone have different priorities in their lives, and the purpose of their purchase, and it's ok to want something that cost more, or something that's economical.
With costs, almost always, comes the reason for those costs. As much as we don't expect to have a hundred thousand dollar home renovation the same standards as a million dollar one, or the performance of and longevity of a RM5000 iPhone vs a RM500 smartphone, the same applies to prints - the materials, work & skills involved and services rendered.
Handmade Heirlooms
As with all things handmade (I mean truly handmade from start to finish, with the only exception being the use of a guillotine for a finished, even cut), with almost 15 years of binding experience, the skills developed and hours which is approximately 5 hours each album, not including printing, drying, pressing times, contributes to the cost. But what you are receiving is truly a handmade product, bound using traditional bookbinding methods. I have watched videos by some 'premium' album makers in the west with the huge 'Handmade' words emblazoned over it, but if you take the time to notice, a lot of the steps involved feeding prints into huge and heavy machines.
Why? Simply because making albums and boxes by hand involves an enormous amount of work and skill, and limited to only a few pieces a day when made by hand.
Your albums and boxes are handmade using basic, traditional bookbinding tools & methods, where every page is glued by hand, one by one, and each cover material measured & cut, and cover wrapped using nothing more than a ruler, blade, adhesive and a bonefolder.
Made With Really Good, Reputable Materials
The individual parts of your album, boxes, matted prints and prints did not come together by accident. Materials sourced were from stringent testing over almost a decade of trial and error. So knowing the materials that form your precious keepsake is important:
Cover boards - Holland made
Cover materials - Japanese Silks & Fabrics (imported exclusively)
Album page substrates - Italian made, acid free
Page laminate - Korea
Print papers - German made, archival grade
Inks - Genuine 12 colour, pigment inks
Matboards USA / UK
Vellum - Italy
You can read more about our inks & papers here
Great Service Takes Time & Effort
When you trust us in crafting your precious heirloom, we treat every one of them with the utmost care. Together with my wife, we work this bindery from the ground up. You will notice that I will personally handle almost every single order, question, query or concern you may have. There is no salesman nor customer service officer.
Addressing each and every query and question, takes time, effort and hard work, which we will gladly put in. With that, comes the attention that almost no other bindery will offer you.
Tags
Archival Prints
Handmade Boxes
