Recent Work from the Bindery

Spring is here, and the bindery is buzzing with new work. When we're busy like this, it's especially important to pause and reflect on the collaborations we enjoy with our clientele. Each one is different, and it's always such fun to customize design features or work with a new paper pattern discovered by a client. Here are a few recent pieces to inspire you.  

A bespoke 3-panel desk pad, with interior pockets. The exterior is made with Italian book cloth and the interior is made with Il Papiro's beautifully hand-marbled paper in a blue peacock pattern.  

Above is one of our popular lidded paper trays or in-boxes, made in bespoke extra-deep dimensions and with a vibrant gold Japanese Chiyogami paper. 

Here we have a customized desk organizer, with a notched tray for note papers, a pen and pencil tray, and a standing slot for letters and envelopes. This piece was made using one of the many classic Florentine prints from Rossi.  

Lastly, here is a set of petite stacking trays, each made with a different paper in cheerful shades of yellow. Our client requested this piece to use as a stacking jewelry box, so each tray is fitted with a padded fabric liner.

Our New Graduated Stacking Tray Designs

A set of octagonal stacking trays made with one of our beautiful new Japanese papers. In the top tray you can see my very favorite antique netsuke and a stack of our fun new miniature desk blotter business cards. Custom made to order trays are available at
The Parvum Opus Shop.

I adore exploring antique shops both close to home and when I travel, and among my favorite finds are small trays. The best ones have beautiful scale and personality, and are always the perfect thing to finish off a desk or table corner. I've designed our new range of trays with my charming antiques in mind, paying extra attention to proportion and scale. 

A set of rectangular trays in graduated sizes. This set was made with our second new paper, a beautiful Japanese Chiyogami paper with a shagreen-like pattern of
gold dots on a rich green ground.

Our new trays are available in rectangular and octagonal formats, in graduating sizes, with or without brass ball feet, and it's been great fun to design these latest additions to our collection. At the bindery, we're known for our meticulous craftsmanship, and it's been particularly enjoyable (I hope it's not too nerdy to say) to design a set of proprietary techniques to ensure that the corners on our octagonal trays are as sharp and crisp as those in our other trays and boxes.

The octagonal trays, with the larger one reversed. I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it. It's a hand silk-screened Chiyogami paper, still made in small batches in the traditional Japanese way, and reminds me of the intricate silk patterns found in kimono fabrics.

The introduction of our new trays coincides with the addition of two new papers for our palette. We stock eighteen papers, which we invite you to see on our website's palette pages. Beyond these, we work with hundreds of fine papers from around the world via special order on behalf of our clients, and it's hard not to fall in love with each one. The Japanese Chiyogami papers in particular come in more than a thousand patterns, each one special in its own way. It was a challenge to settle on our two new patterns, but I think you'll agree that both the interlocking circle design and shagreen-like dotted green design are especially beautiful. 

This is the smaller of our rectangular trays, shown with one of my tiniest antique books, one of our small jacketed Moleskine journals, and an antique English salt cellar, pressed into service as a paper clip container.

I do hope you've enjoyed seeing our new arrivals, just in time for the spring. If you'd like to collaborate on your own perfectly scaled and patterned trays, or if you have a special project in mind, we are cheerfully at your service.

The Art of the 'In-Box'

One of our lidded paper trays made with Il Papiro's beautiful brown
peacock hand marbled paper. By special order via www.parvumopus.com

We've had a run on our 'in-box' paper trays recently. Perhaps, like me, our clients are making the best of the winter months to tidy up their workspaces. Here are a few lovely examples, showcasing some of the world's loveliest papers:

A lidded in-box tray made with a red fleurs de lys pattern,
made by Rossi in Italy. More details at www.parvumopus.com.

For this example, we used a beautiful hand silk-screened
Chiyogami paper from Japan. All of the ball handles for
our paper trays are carefully painted to coordinate
with each paper pattern. 

Here, we used another Chiyogami paper, this time in tones of
gray and rust. I never tire of working with such lovely papers.

A desk organizer tray jacketed in Rossi's turquoise
Florentine paper. 

For this in-box project, we used a vintage world map design.

Rossi's classic red Florentine paper is always a popular choice for our
clients, and this paper tray design shows it off nicely. 

Sure to cheer you up on a cloudy day, this lidded paper tray's
yellow hand-marbled paper is made in France. I imagine the desk this
belongs to is the site of some fascinating work!

It was a pleasure to make each of these paper trays, and there are several more in progress at this very moment-- how wonderful. We of course invite you to visit our website to see more of our custom desk furnishings, or inquire about a bespoke project of your own. 

A Valentine from Parvum Opus

 Parvum Opus is pleased to provide desk furnishings
made to order in your choice of colors and patterns.
Visit our shop for details.

Warm Valentine's wishes from Parvum Opus!

We're getting ready for a new batch of stunning papers to arrive in the bindery from around the world. Even while winter lingers, it looks like spring in the workroom with these new colorful additions. We look forward to sharing the resulting new works!

A New Partners' Desk organizer

A new project: a double-sided partners' desk organizer made to our client's specifications and jacketed in a stunning hand-marbled paper by Il Papiro. 

At Parvum Opus, we have the pleasure of collaborating with our clientele on beautiful bespoke projects every day, and often, our tight schedule prevents us from taking the time to photograph and share them. So today it's my pleasure to share a recently completed project: a double-sided desk organizer designed specifically for our client's Edwardian partners' desk. It features slots for stationery, pens and pencils on both sides, and measures just over 15" long. For this piece, we selected one of the world's finest handmade papers from Il Papiro, the venerable Italian papermaker. 

This paper, called a 'peacock marble' is made one sheet at a time using a centuries-old process, with every inch beautifully varied. To give you some idea of how this paper is created, here's a short video snip from Il Papiro in Firenze (via YouTube): 

We hold craftsmanship and design in the highest regard here at the bindery, and it's a distinct pleasure to work with materials made in the same spirit. As with all of our bespoke projects, we were delighted to design and fabricate this piece and hope that our clients find it beautiful and useful for many years to come.

New Projects

The new Grande French Curve Letter Sorter, made to order 

in hundreds of paper patterns. This beautiful blue palmette pattern

is made by Rossi. 

Whew, it's been such a busy summer at the bindery! I hope this post finds all of my blogging friends well and enjoying the autumn. In my attempts to compose the best new post possible after such a long absence, I thought it best to simply share some of our favorite recent projects. I hope these colorful images speak for themselves, and that they might also hint at the great pleasure we take in crafting each one. 

An Archival Storage Box made with one of our favorite papers, a
vintage Italian map design, made by Cavallini. 

A new Petite French Curve Letter Sorter, made with a cheerful fleurs de lys
patterned paper by Rossi.

A bespoke Hexagonal Pencil Cup and Note Tray with matching
golf pencils made with our client's vintage hand-blocked paper.

A Stacking Desk Organizer and matching Pencil Holder, made using our client's
Italian wedding paper.

A Desk Set including a desk pad, lidded pencil tray, a pen and pencil holder,
8 1/2" x 11" paper tray, and 2 note folios. In this case, our client selected a beautiful turquoise Florentine paper by Rossi and dark brown Italian book cloth.

A bespoke Journal and matching Archival Box, jacketed in a beautiful
Japanese Chiyogami paper in shades of gray and orange.

A couple of views of our new Paper Trays, made in four sizes and
an array of stunning patterned papers.

A refillable Notepad Folio in one of our new paper selections,
a pea-green hand-marbled paper from France. 

A bespoke modified Clamshell Box, made to our client's
specifications, and using another French hand-marbled paper, this time
in shades of violet.

A bespoke Desk Set in a paper chosen by our client, a green
and blue floral by Rossi.

A Desk Pad and Petite Letter Sorter made in Cavallini's vintage
world map paper, paired with Italian book cloth in a deep wine color.

A gaggle of Travel Picture Frames made for a wedding party, again
featuring the turquoise Florentine paper by Rossi. 

.....And so on, and so on... The cheerful work continues...!