Behind Closed Doors Dad Bookbinders

Breathing new life into old books, a team of artists in Glasgow are keeping an ancient cra alive.

- Judy Diamond

Given the nature of our throwaway culture and insatiable appetite for all things digital, it seems unfeasible that a business as resolutely traditional as book binding could survive, let alone thrive. Yet that is exactly where Glasgow’s Downie Allison Downie finds itself. A second-generation family business, established in Finnieston by Morton Downie in 1981, it is going from strength to strength, supplying customers all over the world.

John Allison joined forces with Downie in 1997 and now runs the business alongside Lesley- Anne and Robin Mitchell, Morton’s daughter and son-in-law. The focus of the business is on creativity and quality, using the diverse skills and experience of a highly trained team of eleven. It offers a wide range of services, from visitors’ books, portfolios and thesis-binding to fine-binding and restoration. “We are different from other bookbinders because we like to train our staff on many aspects of bookbinding instead of just one,” says Robin.

“Our team is mostly made up of former art students – we find they are both creative and have a very high attention to detail. We have a silversmith, a graphic designer, two illustrators, a jeweller, a screen-printer and an interior designer working for us just now, which brings a wealth of creativity to the company.”

The team use techniques that have been around for centuries. The materials may have changed over the years as improvements have been made to their quality, but otherwise books will be bound in the same way as Milton’s Paradise Lost was in 1667 or Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was in 1729.