Accountant turns Bookbinder
- Debs Harrison
- Nov 15, 2025
- 2 min read
One might think 30 years of accountancy and the art of book binding have little in common. But Magalie Briand says her previous skills of precision and being organised are transferable to this traditional craft. Magalie was initially attracted to bookbinding as a technique to bind her a watercolour paintings together. So, she booked onto a bookbinders course and was hooked. She is now a full-time bookbinding artist.
After 8 years of learning this traditional art, Magalie still searches out the most accomplished bookbinders, attending their workshops to learn new bookbinding structures and to refine her techniques. She practices them daily. "I am still learning"' she adds modestly.
Magalie’s interests in bookbinding began with the medieval craft. Today ,we have a wider variety of materials (e.g. coloured threads) but some of the techniques and tools have not changed for hundreds of years, she explains.
Magalie is drawn to quality. After becoming frustrated with cheap, poor-quality materials, one of her axioms is never to compromise on quality but to buy the best you can afford. "It does make a difference", she adds. Only recently, Magalie made a 6 hour round trip to buy 5,000 sheets of premium paper from a retired bookbinder.
Originally from Nantes in France, Magalie wanted to practice her English in the UK, so became an au-pair. However, to be financially independent and to fund her stay, she got a job in accountancy. Today, as a professional bookbinder, she handmakes books with her own decorated paper. She hosts workshops in her studio at her home in Gloucester and leads courses at local venues such as the Cathedral and the Art and Craft shop. "I wouldn’t trade bookbinding for anything. "The joy of creating, teaching, and sharing outweighs the long hours", Magalie admits, "but when your passion becomes your job, it can hard be to switch off".
From 2 to 7 December 2025, Magalie will be at the Gate art space on Westgate Street Gloucester demonstrating book binding techniques and offering a £10 drop-in workshop to make a small notebook (no prebooking required).
Magalie will be an Artist-in-Residence next year at Nature in Art (Twigworth, Gloucester).
She offers 3, 6 and 12-month schedules for the Duke of Edinburgh Award skill section. She is at the early stage of providing tutoring sessions towards a qualification in City and Guilds in Bookbinding.
