Family Book Lab in Berkeley

I finally caught up with Coriander (a.k.a. Cory) Reisbord, my longtime colleague in the book arts world (and at California College of the Arts). She told me that she had the opportunity to teach at Cazadero Performing Arts Family Camp this summer, a place I know in its incarnation as Cazadero Music Camp. I visited Cory at her year-and-a-half-old studio storefront in Berkeley, CA called Family Book Lab. It's a sweet little space a few doors down from the city's beloved toy store Mr. Mopp's. She teaches an adult letterpress class there as well as hosting project-oriented children's birthday parties. Come on in!



She was just holding the onion skin paper up to the light to show me.


Doing book repair work at her desk. Wonderful book cloth rack!


View looking out to the street.


Type cabinet, slug cutter, knives, inks.


Letterpress printed calendar and tools.


And the letterpress with a linoleum block locked up.


If you live in the area and want to take a class, contact her!




Comments

AJ said…
I'm Cory's older kid. Her shop's been gone for years now, and she sold the press when we moved out of Berkeley. I guess it's one of those things you kind of just try to move on from and not think much about, especially since I was barely in middle school when we had to leave. There's no use in feeling bad about something you won't get to have back and that you only remember fragments of, y'know? But damn, do I miss this place.

She did get the job teaching at Caz family camp. We can't go this year because of the pandemic, but it would have been our 7th time there.
Alisa said…
Dear AJ,
Hello! Welcome! Yes, I run into your mom periodically and was sorry when she and all of you had to move out. I'm glad you have been able to enjoy Caz, though. It's a magical place. All this comes around to a phrase I think about a lot: everything is temporary. Some good, some not so much. But good memories are definitely worth something: a little warm spot in the middle of hard times. Thanks for writing. Take care!