On October 17, the focus is on Intangible Cultural Heritage. This also includes traditional craftsmanship techniques that are passed down and preserved from one generation to the next. Bookbinding is a good example: it combines craftsmanship, experience and traditional knowledge with high-quality materials.

Books preserve stories, knowledge and cultural memories. To ensure that they remain intact for many years and generations, craftsmanship alone is not enough. The right materials for the production and processing of books are equally essential.

A wide range of different materials is used in bookbinding, each serving a specific purpose and contributing to the stability, durability and high-quality finish of a book. These include, for example, spine hollow and bookbinding gauze for back reinforcement, headbands for finishing the book, hinge materials, threads for thread sewing, as well as various papers and nonwovens.

As a company with many years of experience in the production and processing of technical and bookbinding materials, we find the connection between tradition and materials particularly interesting. Traditional craftsmanship can only be passed on and preserved over the long term if the appropriate materials – and knowledge of their properties and processing – are also available.

This does not mean preserving traditions unchanged. Traditional crafts continue to evolve. New materials, modern production processes and changing requirements can help preserve proven techniques in the long term while developing them further for the future.

The Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage therefore provides a good opportunity to take a closer look at the craftsmanship behind the finished products. Behind every carefully bound book are experience, precision and many individual steps – and, last but not least, the materials that make this work possible in the first place.

Cultural heritage needs knowledge. Cultural heritage needs craftsmanship. And cultural heritage needs materials.