Opened in Padua at the end of the 1960s and then extended to Venice, Antica Legatoria Ofer upholds the bookbinding tradition of the abbeys of Santa Giustina and Praglia. This atelier also integrated into its practice the legacy of the previous owner, Alberto Valese, one of the most renowned masters of Venetian marbled papers and ebrù (Turkish marbling). Nowadays the two workshops in Padua and Venice are run by a group of young artisans who use traditional methods to develop new objects and patterns – books, notebooks and albums lined with colourful covers, rubber stamps, handmade prints and marbled papers.
Marbled paper, in particular, is offered in a variety of styles that are rarely mastered under the same roof: Venetian, Western, Japanese and Turkish marbled paper. As for sustainability, low impact papers are preferred and most of them come from recycled sources. In Venice, old machinery and tools are still in use, such as an imposing cast iron press, used to glue the covers of the books.
Antica Legatoria Ofer
