John DeMerritt owns and operates John DeMerritt Bookbinding in Emeryville, CA. His bindery produces editions of books and portfolios for fine-press printers, publishers, galleries and artists. John has taught and lectured at The SF Center for the Book, The Kala Institute, The Guild of Bookworkers, Center for Book and Paper at Columbia College, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts and Mills College. From 2000 - 2013, he taught bookmaking in the Photography Department of the San Francisco Art Institute. John and his wife, Nora Pauwels, publish collaborative projects with artists under their imprint DeMerritt | Pauwels Editions.
Nora Pauwels is an internationally recognized printmaker. Born in Belgium, where she was educated in fine arts and fine art restoration, she lives and works in Emeryville. She is known for her exploration of unusual means of creating intaglio prints with various plexigravure processes.
Her work has been exhibited in the Bay Area for over twenty years and, most recently, she was awarded a commission from the City of Emeryville Art in Public Places Program for an installation of her prints at the Emeryville Police Station. Additionally, she was among the first artists commissioned by the City of Emeryville for their Art In Bus Shelters Program. Pauwels has created several portfolios of prints that have been collected both nationally and internationally. She and her husband, John DeMerritt, operate DeMerritt | Pauwels Editions, a small imprint focused on publishing books with visual artists.
DeMerritt | Pauwels editions is a publisher of handmade books in Emeryville, CA. Using our background in traditional bookmaking and printing processes, our goal is to produce small editions of books with artists that utilize both the powerful tradition of the hand made book object and its potential as a vehicle for narrative, visual experimentation and material engagement.
The SF Bay Area has a rich history in book production and printing, The Bay Area is one of the major hubs of Artist Book activity in the United States and there’s a significant audience for handmade books here. While DeMerritt | Pauwels Editions’ sees itself as part of that continuum, we are particularly interested in expanding our reach into the larger arts community, where we feel equally at home and where there is a larger platform for dialogue about and investigation into the potential of the book object.
We are most interested in collaborating with artists who are willing to work closely with us and participate in all aspects of production. This is an unusual convention for most publishers, but we feel strongly that the time spent together in the studio is important to our ultimate understanding of what our projects become in the process of creating them.