Forget-Me-Not Originals can make your reading experience truly beautiful and unique. Each novel or nature guide is handbound in a vintage or reclaimed fabric so that every piece is completely individual. The tactile nature of the cloth covers also means that they are pleasing to hold, and as both books and fabrics are vintage or antique you are buying something not only hand crafted but completely sustainable. Where possible the fabric binding will reflect something of the nature of the book: Rebecca, set in Cornwall may have a design of roses, hydrangeas or rhododendrons all synonymous with both Cornwall and Manderley; Jane Eyre might feature a bird to reflect it’s most famous quote; a 1930s edition of any book could be matched with a 1930s cover. The real purpose of Forget-Me-Not Originals books is that they become heirloom pieces – wonderful stories passed down and read generation to generation. A unique vintage copy of a favourite story rebound in a beautiful vintage fabric so that it’s truly one of a kind. And for the writers, artists or those who like to make a list or keep a journal there are notebooks and sketchbooks also available hand covered in vintage fabrics.
Forget-Me-Not Originals came about after I had given up my full time job as a Head of Buying in the fashion industry to look after my youngest daughter. When she started school, I began to feel that I would like something else to do but wanted it to be something that could fit around my family. I was given a book by Sarah Moore and in that was a section on covering notebooks in vintage wallpaper – I found wallpaper quite hard to come by so decided to try fabric instead. After giving a few to friends and family and getting a good reaction, the seed of a business idea was planted and Forget-Me-Not Originals was born. From there it was a natural step to the books – I grew up in a house full of them (my dad was a history teacher and my mum taught English) and we lived next to a secondhand bookshop where I used to spend all my pocket money! Books have always been an important part of my life. I enrolled myself onto a couple of book binding courses to learn the basic skills and then spent about 6 weeks afterwards perfecting the art of adding a fabric binding to a book whilst retaining as much of the original book as possible which is important to me – I am just one more step in it’s journey. I am so lucky to have been able to make this my full time job and indulge my twin passions of books and print and hopefully save a few wonderful novels from becoming landfill along the way!