Par
Emilie Tournie
Published on
Jan 12, 2025 at 5:02 p.m.
Monday December 9, 2024Sophie Cornée, restorer/binder of old books in Orléans (Loiret), came in second place – tied with Christophe Voisin, artist-taxidermist in Outarville – for the 2024 Departmental Art Craft Prize for the restoration of an edition of “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn”.
Who is she and what does her job involve? We present them to you.
A change of path
Sophie Cornée, 52, is originally from the Paris region. She is training to become a chartered accountant before changing path at the age of 40. “I decided to retrain in a manual profession and I turned to restoration/binding,” she explains.
It all started when she met Patricia Sirjean, a bookbinder in Gien. Already having an interest in books, this meeting decides to start learning the trade by taking classes directly in his workshop (2009-2010). “I did about two or three at her place and I went to the Atelier d’Arts Appliqués du Vésinet,” adds Sophie.
After four years of training, she opens his workshop and formalizes his new profession by passing a CAP Binding/Gilding in Lisieux (Calvados) in 2015. Sophie then arrived in Orléans in 2019, when her husband was transferred there.
Creativity, repair, a profession of passion
The bookbinder profession is divided into several branches:
- the classic binding – Making a simple binding for a book that doesn’t have one
- the restoration of old books – Restoration of novel and comic book bindings whose corners, spines or edges are damaged, for example
- the reliure d’art – Creation of an entire binding from a paperback novel. The craftsman has carte blanche, can draw inspiration from the illustrations, theme and colors of the work and choose the materials (leather, mother-of-pearl, wood) with which he wishes to work. A branch particularly appreciated by Sophie because “we are in creation, there are no limits”.
Other art professions revolve around this professionlike the leatherworker (skinning calf skins, goat skins, etc.), tanner (the one who prepares the leather), trimmer (little-known profession which consists of thinning the skin), marbler (the one who makes the marbled papers ) or the gilder (titling on the back of the leather or decorative elements).
“It’s a job where you’re always learning. You cannot practice this job for six months, each case of restoration and binding is different. The cost and workload therefore vary from one binding to another since it is truly tailor-made.”
“Restoring a comic book makes sense”
“I like challenges, this is the third competition I’ve done and each time I get a prize so I gave it a try. Plus, it interested me because it was about restoration,” the craftswoman tells us.
She also explains to us that the edition of “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” presented in this competition was rather old (not original), of a certain cost and that it mainly belonged to the father of his client.
“In bookbinding and restoration, we rely a lot on emotional affect. There is a family aspect with wanting to preserve and pass on the work and that is something important in the profession.”
By participating in this competition, Sophie wanted to show that “preserving comics made sense and that it was a popular art deserving of being part of our current heritage”. Having won this second prize also allows him to further highlight your profession in Orléans and social networks.
Future projects
“I have already carried out a project during Covid by organizing an exhibition on the occasion of the induction of Maurice Genevoix into the Panthéon,” explains Sophie Cornée. 17 works of art were created and presented for this purpose at the eponymous library of Orléans-La-Source.
“I would have liked to do an exhibition on Loiret writers but it takes time.” Anyway, the craftswoman intends to continue its activity.
The Departmental Prize for Artistic Crafts
This competition was created to promote the excellence of the know-how of Loiret craft professionals. The jury, made up of eight members from the professional, cultural and educational world, met on October 14, 2024 to designate the winner from among the six candidate artisans, for the quality of a work produced less than three years ago. The first prize received €700 from the Department and has the possibility of subsequently competing for the Regional Crafts Prize. The two tied second prizes respectively received €150.
█Practical: La Belle Page, Sophie Cornée’s restoration/binding workshop
14 rue du pressoir blanc, Orléans
Contact : [email protected] or 06 10 05 09 97
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