Next month Martin Penny has been binding books for 20 years, which means about half a million books have passed through his hands! We’re proud to say that for ten of those years he’s been running our bindery at Momento, and he still treats every book like it’s the most important book on the planet. Here’s Marty’s story …
I got into this business 20 years ago. I married into it. My German father-in-law was a book binder for 45 years and he taught me everything I know. I love to bind books because I love making things with my own hands.
I ran my own bindery for a decade and Momento was my client for many years. When they set up their own photo book facility in 2008, they asked me to join the team, so I came on board to run their state-of-the-art bindery.
Before I started binding photo books most of my work was thesis binding and while we always produced beautiful work, Momento ramped up the quality even more. We use the best board, the best reinforcement cloth, and linens and leathers from Europe.
I love how the pages are printed on the latest digital printers but we still use old school binding techniques to put them together.
The most important thing is that every book is stitched – not just glued. Most are stitched using the Super Sewer but if they’re really thick, we have to stitch them by hand.
There’s so much that goes into the binding of a book, to get it looking and feeling perfect. You’ve got to use paper with the correct grain so it bends in the right direction and sits flat, the folds have to be sharp, and everything has to line up seamlessly.
A lot of people like to add embossing to the cover, and getting a clean crisp impression is an art in itself. Every material needs different heat, time and pressure to get it looking just right.
Sometimes the work is detailed but at the end of the day you can see the difference.
We’ve got a great new bindery here in Zetland, Sydney, and most of my binders have been working with me for eight years now. Although we’ve all bound hundreds and thousands of books, we still genuinely care about every book, album or box we bind.
I just hope people realise that it’s real human beings, not machines, who make their Momento books. If I’m not happy with a book there is no way it’s going out the door!
To see Marty in action view the video below.
Momento Musings 
Thank you so much for sharing this story. It is invaluable to know how my books are made and I really appreciate the human touch, for sure.
Thanks Michelle, so glad you enjoyed it. We have a truly fabulous team and by June this year we will have 10 staff who’ve been with us for 10 years 🙂 Enjoy your books
Hi Michelle – sorry for the incredibly slow reply – your kinds words are appreciated and have been shared with our production team 🙂
Woops I did reply earlier 🙂
After reading this article and watching the video my next photo book will be made by momento.
Thanks so much for that Leanne! I’ll be sure to let Tyson, our graphic designer know as this was all his idea. FYI, as a professional photographer you should also check out Momento Pro at http://www.momentopro.com.au, our service which dedicated to career photographers.
My wife, Aroha, is the photographer, and sweats over our travel photos with Photoshop. She is meticulous in looking at colour balance as well as composition, and we treasure each book you make. This article and video have added to my appreciation of your contribution. Thank you to all the team, and especially to Marty.
Dennis
Thanks Dennis and Aroha, I will pass on your comment to Marty and his team 🙂 We hope you enjoy your books often
Actually watched you in action today on the tour ..Very impressed with the care taken in all aspects of making the books,Now busy planning my next books Thanks
Oh great to hear Mary, it’s such a treat to watch the production team in action. Have fun with your book creation – Libby 🙂
I really like the quality of the photobook, thank you for your hard work!