Ben was born in France in 1983. He is well known for his contributions to the field of innovative book structures with creations such as the onionskin binding, the elbum, planel, tue-mouche, to name only a few and operates a boutique bindery specialising in presentation solutions for books, manuscripts and more.  Ben fell in love with bookbinding while studying illustration in Strasbourg. What was first a hobby quickly turned into a burning passion, resulting in him leaving illustration to study bookbinding and conservation at the Centro del bel Libro in Ascona, Switzerland. Two years after leaving this school Ben was asked to return to teach a class on his own bookbinding structures, making him the youngest ever instructor in that internationally renowned school.  The years following his formal training were devoted to acquiring work experience. For five years Ben worked in various companies in Germany and the UK, undertook internships and travelled the world to meet mentors.  He first established himself as a self-employed bookbinder in London, under the name Elbel Libro, a tribute to his place of training in Switzerland. Together with Kieke Schaaper, they worked for stationery brands, the hospitality industry (hotel and restaurant menus), ran an independent print and bind service for a while and gradually made their way to the rare book world, in which they still mostly operate today.  In the meantime, Ben continued teaching locally and across Europe. In 2014 he and Kieke travelled to the US and taught at various art centres from North Carolina to the West Coast. Around that time, he was the first to conduct a successful online course using Skype and soon after began publishing instruction manuals under the imprint 'bookbinding out of the box'.   Today Ben continues his research and services to the rare book world and is available as a consultant around his areas of expertise: binding and presentation structures, boxmaking, edition binding, foil blocking, lean manufacturing and workflow optimisation.  Ben is married to Kieke Schaaper and they live in rural Alsace with their son, Maxime. 

Ben Elbel Bookbinding 
Elbel Libro Bookbinding Instagram: @ben.elbel 
Ben Elbel ~ Head Craftsman, Elbel Libro, France
