Cristina Balbiano d'Aramengo

Cristina Balbiano d’Aramengo graduated in Painting in 1990, from the Accademia de Belle Arti di Brera, in Milan, Italy.  She has worked as assistant to the Paper Conservation Program for professional restorers in Aosta and as trainee to the Laboratorio di Restauro Scentifico del Libro in Rome, Italy. In 1993, Cristina opened her own workshop in Milan, while completing her professional development at the Centro del bel Libro in Ascona, Switzerland.

Cristina’s training in both bookbinding and conservation, has led to a respectful approach to the book and to making unobtrusive and discrete bindings, with minimal use of adhesives.  She is also involved in creative contemporary bookbinding and likes to study and play with structural elements, emphasizing aesthetic features as well as functional qualities.  She has taken part in several exhibitions in England, Italy, France, Spain and Belgium.

Presently, Cristina works for private collectors and bibliophiles and teaches fine binding, restoration and book arts, both in Italy and abroad, while collaborating with other professional contemporaries.  She is President and founding member of the cultural association “Professione Libro” in Milan, Italy with the aim to encourage and promote the exchange of ideas around the field of book arts.