Inside the Sarabande Foundation’s Beautiful New Art Book

Though we’re living in a digital age, consuming the majority of our media through phones and computers, nothing compares to the tangible touch of a book or magazine. This special feeling, of hand to paper, is explored to its fullest potential in the beautiful new art book Sarabande Bound, which arrives exclusively at Dover Street Market London this week.

Wrapped in the traditional Japanese furoshiki style, the handbound publication explores the beauty of paper and its vast creative possibilities. The book – which is released in a limited run of 100 – features works by 36 artists who have been supported through the Sarabande Foundation, which was launched by Lee Alexander McQueen in 2006 to nurture emerging artists and designers. No two Bound books are exactly alike, though each includes an array of sculpted, cut, embossed, perforated, hand-painted, embroidered, and dyed artworks.

Highlights inside Bound include Emma Witter’s transparent windows, which trap crushed bone, flowers and pearls in hypnotic circular patterns; a curling black paper ribbon on clashing vibrant yellow by Aurora Pettinari York; and Stephen Doherty’s inky floral works. The book also features a series of dreamy black-and-white portraits shot by Sam Rock and styled by Katy England, which originally featured in the Autumn/Winter 2019 issue of AnOther.

“We challenged our artists to think outside their usual practice and present themselves in an unexpected way,” says Trino Verkade, the director of Sarabande. “The result is spellbinding – the completed artworks are entirely unique, both within the world of art and within each artist’s distinctive body of work ... binding individual works onto paper to create one larger work of art, Bound touches on the sense of unity within Sarabande.”

Sarabande Bound is available in a limited edition of 100 books from 30 November 2021 at Dover Street Market London and www.sarabandefoundation.org.