ABOUT ME
I'm Rob Kendrew. I have been involved in the production of books of various types throughout a 36 year publishing career and during that time have worked with print partners and commercial customers all over the world to develop beautiful, innovative and creative books - especially children's books - and ensure they get to market safely, on time and at the highest quality.
paperwallah began as a part-time hobby when I thought it was time I got hands-on and appreciate how much care and effort needs to go into the making of books so I could look my suppliers in the eye when I had cause to comment on their quality. As the blog archive shows, it has developed gradually into unexpected areas as I began to experiment more with different binding methods and techniques and discovered new and interesting materials.
The opportunity to acquire some vintage letterpress machinery sent me off in a new direction as I recalled and recreated my Art lessons from when I was 11 and had persuaded Len Major, my art teacher at the time, to excuse me from life drawing and spend those inky afternoons printing detention cards and service sheets on the school's Arab Platen Press.
paperwallah is now my full time (pre-) occupation and I am plan to develop it even further and give it the attention it has not been possible up to now. I have enough bookbinding and printing kit to create and produce all manner of interesting and individual notebooks, greetings cards, albums and bespoke boxes (although if you know of any neglected bargains to be had let me know!).
As you will see from these pages, I have created some lovely bespoke gifts for a number of friends and colleagues and am always happy to source just the right materials and particular papers to make the gift especially individual. Contact me if you are looking for a really thoughtful unusual gift.