Wow. Opening my own shop here is a huge milestone for me. I had my Paperiaarre shop on Etsy since 2007 (bye bye, Etsy!), but it’s very different to have it right here, on my very on site. And now it’s live! And I don’t know if anyone’s coming! (I tried to invite absolutely everyone!) This change is honestly quite terrifying, even though it feels more right than I could’ve imagined. I want to thank everyone who has ever supported me and Paperiaarre – I love receiving your orders, messages, comments and likes, from faraway places and from across the hallway. This job is something I’m so passionate about – it means the world to me that you also want to take part in that joy. Thank you my dear friends, old and new!

Relocating my shop here made me want to spruce things up a bit, and while I’m currently unable to do miracles, I was able to do some little fixes and update my possibly six-year-old photos. Hello – long time no see! This is me in my little studio where I mostly write poetry but also bind books. My hair is now much longer and it’s turned curly. It hasn’t turned gray yet, even though I’ve already been binding books for 21 years now and it’s not always easy. I’ve been doing this over half my life. Time well spent, I must say. I’d love to keep doing this for another 21 years, at least. And I’m sure with your support it’s exactly what I’ll do. Word of mouth is now more important to me than ever before, so if you’ve enjoyed using my books, reading my posts, looking at my photos, do let your friends know about it!

My work here is done, at least for a little while. The shop is packed full of beautiful books and other treasures. There are thousands of blank pages waiting to be filled by you (or someone you know). I’m now going to rest a little, recover from this big change and weeks of furiously (but lovingly) binding books, and simply enjoy my hard work and your reaction to what I put together this spring. I’ll be shipping your orders beaming with pride, and planning what sort of books to bind the next time I take a little break from a poet’s work.