Jeff Altepeter

Jeff Altepeter, the head of the bookbinding department, is a 2003 graduate of the American Academy of Bookbinding and an alumnus of the NBSS program. After completing the NBSS program in 1999, Jeff worked at Harcourt Bindery and Harvard University’s Tozzer Library. He serves as the chair of the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers and operates a bindery in Somerville, Massachusetts specializing in leather bindings and boxes. 

The binding '12711', at right and above, was done as a class demo and illustrates the NBSS process of making models of book structures to explore traditional bookbinding materials and techniques. This Gothic model is sewn on double raised cords with laced-on oak boards. Covered in 21st-century alum-tawed pigskin, this model is a meditation on the challenge of re-creating a 500-year-old book. Blind stamped with tools cut by the binder, tattoos by the pig farmer. 7 x 5.25 x 1.75 inches, 18 x 13.5 x 4.5 centimeters. Created 2009.  

Visit Jeff's website to see more of his work.