Artisan businesses form “rare collaboration”

Two specialist businesses, York Bookbinding and McRay Press, have announced a unique collaboration that will seek to keep respective heritage skills thriving for future generations.

With the world becoming more reliant on digital solutions, and many skills and traditional forms of media becoming more sought after, the businesses feel now is more important than ever to emphasise the significance of physical products.

Both businesses design, protect, and produce items that are both commercially important and help preserve the past, creating portable and timeless products.

York Bookbinding, based in Thief Lane in the City of York, offers a range of services including binding of magazines and periodicals, sympathetic book restoration, and slipcase creation. The company started in January 2000 following the closure of York University bindery.

Founder Philip Winskill has worked in binding for almost all his working life, gaining lots of experience in binding periodicals, monographs, theses, books, as well as miscellaneous work like presentation bindings and collection boxes.

McRay Press designs and prints items like self-published books, leaflets, menus, and business cards. The family business operates from Londesborough Road, Scarborough, and has served the local community since 1994.

The print house is run by Mike and Helen Springall who are now working with Winskill, learning about his craft, and collaborating in order to preserve their historical practices and inspire future generations.

Winskill explains: “We have worked closely with McRay Press on a number of projects and for us to join forces seems the obvious way forward to help preserve the unique skills involved in both industries. Our partnership with McRay Press ensures the longevity and ‘full circle’ of the printing and bookbinding skills”.

Mike and Helen Springall add: “Design and print are art forms that lend themselves to hard copy, ‘real’ items, which are an essential part of marketing and memory making. Partnering with York Bookbinding will help future-proof our place in creating bespoke, tangible products.

“By joining forces with Phil and his team, we have the means to print, bind and finish a project to an exceptional standard.”

The two companies have worked together since December but will officially be partners from April 2023.

Both businesses are now working hard on important projects involving local churches and schools, including prestigious work for books to be used by the royal estate and in King Charles III’s Coronation.

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