Unit33. Independant book bindary and print studio

CRAFT

UNIT33: Fraser carr miles

We may not always realise the work that goes into our everyday items. When we pick up a book do we consider the effort and craft that has gone into making it. Cultivated and passed on for generations.

‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ was printed in 14th century Korea and was the first book ever made.It tells the mythological tale of Gilgamesh, the ruler of the ancient city of Uruk, Sumeria and his best friend Enkidu. It follows their dangerous adventures which tragically lead to Enkidu’sdeath and Gilgamesh's subsequent quest for the secret of immortality.

From the very beginning books have been magical containers of knowledge which can share human stories and understanding throughout the world. 800 years after the first book was published I caught up with Fraser Carr Miles who owns Unit 33, a book bindery and print studio established in 2018, which he runs with his partner Annie Mackin - Hastings` very own bastions of this enduring profession.

Frasers life began in West London where he was an integral member of a loving and close family. He spent lots of time drawing which was encouraged and nurtured by his free-spirited parents.

“Follow your good energy. It leads you down roads you didn’t know you’d go down.”

His dad was an accountant with a love for music and art and his mum a fashion journalist. His childhood home was one filled with making and tactile experiences like his mum writing on her typewriter and his dad playing records on the family vinyl player.

He attended a tough school and found he was not academic at all, “I got quite heavily bullied when I was a child at primary school”. But he found refuge in the Art department when one of his teachers, Mr Wolf saw his potential and became a guiding light. Art became an escape and a safe space.

His love of art flourished and after finishing school he fulfilled his dream, attending Art College in Chelsea. His dad, retired by then, decided to also fulfill his passion and came with him. Over the next 12 years they collaborated on different projects, and are best known for making 1950’s style Lost & Found offices, which interacted with the community to connect and collect people's stories.

Fraser said of the family ethos driving his career, “I was encouraged in my early years not to focus on what you want, but [instead] to follow the story and value the things that you have an emotional attachment to. It leads you down roads you didn’t know you’d go down.”

“A lot of photographers start as technicians. It’s the only way they can get access to the kit - they can’t afford it otherwise.”

After college he found photography, initially because his friends were doing it but he slowly grew to love it and got a job at Silverprint, the photographic material suppliers. He followed
his energy and studied it at University finding himself enthralled by the work of documenting people and place.
Part of his job at Silverprint entailed selling photographic paper to colleges and on his travels he discovered the facilities they had at their disposal, and realised that to develop his craft he would need to become a technician. “A lot of photographers start as technicians. It’s the only way they can get access to the kit - they can’t afford it otherwise”.
He quickly transitioned into his new job as a technician at a school in London, it was there that he met Annie, his future partner and fellow technician, and after some time in the job he
and his boss realised he had a gift for teaching and he began to teach A-level.

Time rolled on but there was something niggling away at him. Fraser came from a family of makers and when one of his friends left a high paid career as a chef to become a shoe maker he had a feeling of searching for something, “I wanted to make".

He also slowly started to realise that photography wasn’t rewarding him, “I was taking pictures, had all the gear and worked my arse off for 10 years, but I didn’t get the work”. So while working at the College Fraser did a course on Bookbinding at the London Centre for Book Arts in Hackney and instantly fell in love. He became a specialist, bookbinding and making boxes in his spare time.

Meanwhile his work at the college had started to bear fruit with pupils` results improving. Four years after becoming a teacher, he was offered a new position as Head of Photography but he turned it down.

“We were keen to see what the local community wanted. The work that came in ranged from repairing grandma’s novel to making an artist’s book. We also started to do educational workshops.”

“After about 5 years of teaching you get tired, a lot of people change jobs or take a break.” “Ken Robinson wrote a great book about teaching, he said the first year is about gettingthrough it, second year you are starting to get things together, third year you’ve got your system and you’re getting some success and fourth year you’re happy and confident or you quit, I quit.”

His fourth year as a teacher coincided with Annie moving to Hastings and becoming a competent book binder, “It just looked way more fun.”

“We were looking for a place to work together and Annie found this place [The Yard]. It [the business] started as a photography and artists studio but naturally evolved into a Bookbinding and print business”

“We were keen to see what the local community wanted. The work that came in ranged from repairing grandma's novel to making an artist's book. We also started to do educational workshops.”

“Everyday is different and it has evolved naturally which feels like we have made it. To see something you have built working, with customers coming in, it is really good.”

The business started to find it’s own rhythm with Fraser running the day to day and Annie running the social media. “We are the only Bookbinders in Hastings which means we get lots of interesting work. We mostly do small print runs of special edition books, anywhere from 1-250 books. We have filled a bit of a niche in the market”

“We get quite a bit of film work. The last book we had to make was Newton’s Prints per Mathmatica, the real one is £1m at auction and it was really hard because the gold tooling was done in Edwardian times.”

Alongside the bookbinding they have developed a print service including Risograph printing, an extremely versatile and popular form of print. The technology is 30 years old but it is sought after for it’s high quality prints at a low cost. They run popular workshops on it and other techniques using Fraser’s knowledge acquired from his career as a technician and his teaching skills.

Fraser said of his business, “Everyday is different and it has evolved naturally which feels like we have made it. To see something you have built working, with customers coming in, it is really good.”

Speaking to Fraser and seeing the business he has made and the craft he has developed is inspiring. He has taken an old tradition and re-purposed it for the modern world, encapsulating the skills of the past to create beautiful hand crafted items which have relevance today.

He followed his energy and allowed his story to unfold without trying to force the outcome of who he would become or what he wanted, enabling a gradual discovery of himself through his work, culminating in bookbinding and Unit 33.

Fraser said he loves his work because he gets to discover people and that their stories andstories mean something. He is right, stories do mean something, they have the power to inspire and give hope and Frasers is one of the best I have heard in some time.

unit33.co.uk

@unit33hastings

By Damien Pestell & Charles Osaji

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UNIT33: Fraser carr miles

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