Step into the bindery & beyond.
High on a hill in Brontë country, England, at the end of a dirt road lined with wildflowers and a canopy of sycamore trees is where you’ll find me working away in a 16th century cobblestone cottage.
Here at Lotus Blu, the creative process is by nature slow, it begins long before my hands touch the bookbinding materials…
Each offering is inspired by…
Natural pigments…
Embroidered details found in vintage fabrics collected over two decades…
Handmade and revolutionary recycled fine paper made by passionate makers who have been producing paper for almost two centuries…
Traditional and folk art.
My travels and the boundless beauty of nature…
My South Asian and English heritage…
And my background in block printed textiles and stationery design.
Tune into the music that fuels my creative practice.
Pour yourself a brew, light your favourite candle; patchouli and rose or lavender for me… now let me take you on a magic carpet ride through a place of texture and colour.
‘‘Each book is meditatively created with reverence to the earth friendly and vintage materials involved and their journey into my hands.’’
TOOLS & MATERIALS
Using a few manual tools I’m able to create meaningful journals for others to fill with their art and stories.
I love repurposing vintage materials and using tree-free paper such as hemp, Hahnemuhle bamboo ingres, cotton rag paper and the revolutionary Extract paper made from recycled takeaway coffee cups by G.F.Smith, one of the oldest paper mills in England.
THE PROCESS
Staying true to the traditional ways of bookbinding, using only manual tools helps me get into the creative flow with the rhythmic sounds of sewing, the rustle of paper and the tapping of a hammer accompanied by music.
Gatherings begin piling up around the studio weeks before I begin, sometimes I’ll sketch my vision, but mostly a collection begins and ends with how I want it to feel more than how I want it to look.
THE FINAL FLOURISH
Tucked in a corner of the studio in an alcove is where I pack orders using earth friendly packaging which changes with the seasons.
Each parcel is wrapped up like a gift and sent with love to creatives around the world.
The journey of a book…
“When kindness moves mountains and travels across ponds, when the special and sacred meet with incense still lingering from ancient cloths and bound works breathed into form by poets of craft. This is exactly what it’s like opening a parcel from Moneeza where her attention and care down to every last detail is a gift within a gift, and an art form in and of itself.”
