At the studio / September 2026
September was all about crossing a series of lines.
A border to Brussels.
A marathon finish line in Vilnius.
Birthday.
Another podcast episode released.
Applications sent for projects that could shape quite a bit of 2027.
So yes, despite announcing that I would slow down, September had other plans.
Just as September opened its window, I took the train to Brussels to celebrate the launch of the new website by graphic designer and art director Silvia Robertelli / RSMR Studio, whom I’m also lucky to call a friend.
Website launches usually happen somewhere behind a screen. This one happened in a room full of people. And I loved that.
It felt like a beautiful reason to get on a train: to show up, celebrate someone’s work properly, see it enter the world, and meet the people around it.
The evening brought together many talented designers and makers, including Atelier Rozemarijn, Adriaan Van Leuven and Heleen Sintobin, among others.
While in Brussels, I also met with Tipi Bookshop, which will join Season 3 of Book Making as an Art Form in 2027.
I returned to Amsterdam just in time for the sixth public recording of Book Making as an Art Form at the Stedelijk Museum Library, this time with Eelco van Welie, director and publisher of nai010 publishers.
We spoke about publishing as an ecosystem: how publishers select books, shape them, produce them, distribute them, and connect them to exhibitions, institutions and wider cultural networks.
September also contained plenty of work that nobody sees.
I submitted an application to the Lithuanian Council for Culture for a ten-month research and podcast project in Lithuania in 2027. The proposed research looks at independent art-book publishing and book design culture in Lithuania through conversations with publishers, designers, printers, educators and other people shaping the field.
Also enrolled in the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst lottery and working with Chana Levy on a sponsor support strategy for Season 3.
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Then I flew to Vilnius for a very different project. 42.2 kilometres. I had been preparing for my first marathon for more than a year.
Early mornings.
Long Sunday runs.
Injuries.
Pauses.
Starting again.
And a heroic amount of carbohydrates.
And, throughout all of it, my dear friend beside me. I crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 9 minutes. The time genuinely wasn’t the goal. I was hoping to finish. But family and friends waiting along the course, and suddenly you do something that once felt much bigger than you.
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My birthday arrived only a few days later. Maybe because it followed the marathon so closely, it felt less like adding another year and more like entering a new chapter.
A little stronger.
A little clearer.
And with considerably more time now that marathon training no longer occupies several hours of every week.
Although knowing myself, I probably shouldn’t announce that last part too loudly.
Back in Amsterdam, the studio filled with books again.
September brought photography sessions for Onomatopee, Jap Sam Books, Kristin Metho and Stichting Toekomstbeeld der Techniek, among others. After so much movement outside the studio, returning to the table felt quite good.
September also gave me plenty of reasons to leave my own studio walls. I visited Dear Books, It’s All Graphic #16, an opening at Rijksmuseum Meermanno, and the annual meeting of Pictoright.
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And now October.
I’m finalising several applications to support the next season of the podcast.
On 17 October, I’m heading to BYOB.
On 24 October, we’ll record episode seven of Book Making as an Art Form.
And one very serious studio ambition: finish THE SHELF.
Let’s see how it will go.
With bookish regards,
Justina
