In the workshop located rue Jean-Macé, in Roanne, Nicolas Nevers, president of the Graphein Pallas association, grabs a hammer. He jams the notebooks in the vice. Deep in his eyes, we can sense this little flame, that of all the enthusiasts who have one day discovered the demanding magic of artistic craftsmanship.
“That’s an endorsement machine,” explains the president. When we make a book, it is straight, here we make the spine, the rounding of the book. » The gesture is strong, but precise. Nicolas Nevers forms the sheets of the notebooks taken in the vice. “It’s a virus, binding,” he smiles.
A good virus, which his association has already transmitted to around fifteen people who regularly visit the Graphein Pallas factory. “There is no age to come to us,” says the president. Indeed, the youngest, Mathilde, is 27 years old and the eldest is almost 93 but everyone is united, connected, dare we say by the love of books and manual work because, at Graphein Pallas, all techniques can be approached : from traditional binding to contemporary binding, from the creation of a simple cover to one in leather, including canvas or half-cloth, without forgetting gilding.
“We can also make sets and structures. That’s what bookbinding is: once you start you can’t stop,” argues Nicolas Nevers, taking a look at the work of Mathilde, the youngest busy behind the seamstress. “The book arrives in notebooks, we stretch the ribbons on a wooden frame called a seam,” explains the president. These ribbons serve as a support for sewing, we take the notebooks one after the other and, with linen thread, we enter inside the notebook then we surround the ribbon with the thread. We repeat the operation for all the notebooks and when we have finished, we cut the ribbons. » An operation which ensures a much better longevity of the work and which has remained the same since the Middle Ages.
Nerves and bulges
On this point, the president provides historical clarification: “The monks of the Middle Ages sewed not on ribbons, but on the sinews of oxen. Today, the ribbons make it possible to have smooth spines, which was not the case for the monks' books which, although trying to make the spines as smooth as possible, still had bulges which we call nerves for this reason. »
Today, when a binder wants to find this “old book” appearance, with nerves, he cheats by making a smooth spine on which he places a card the width of the spine on which pieces of leather are glued.
Alongside these traditional bindings, the manufacture also uses more contemporary techniques. Nicolas Nevers points to a pink cover placed on the work table which can accommodate up to six students: “This one is called “criss cross” binding. It's completely different, there is a spine, a cover and a spine attached together by a thread which makes the cover and the notebooks are sewn on this thread. »
National and international exhibitions
Graphein Pallas also participates in national and international exhibitions, notably through events organized by the ARA association which was first created in France before spreading abroad. “There are always imposed themes and the students who want to participate,” underlines the president.
Other associations organize this type of exhibition, such as in September of this year in Saint Remy-de-Chevreuse, in Yvelines, in which three members of Graphein Pallas participated. The event brought together 280 participants and had the theme Night flight by Saint Exupéry. In January, Graphein Pallas intends to participate in the exhibition Poetry in Switzerland. “We also have miniature books to bind for an exhibition in Canada, in 2025 and in 2026, we will participate in another, Myths in Paris,” concludes Nicolas Nevers.
Practical. Classes on Monday afternoon, Monday evening, Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. 14 rue Jean Macé, 42300 Roanne [email protected]/06.33.00.13.33.
