Redbone Bindery
Natasha Herman is the founder and designer of STILT Book Cradles & Display Solutions. She trained as a book conservator and worked under the Redbone Bindery name for 25 years, providing conservation and restoration services for antiquarian books to collectors, booksellers, museums and libraries in Europe and North America.
Through STILT, Natasha now designs and manufactures a standardized line of display and protection fittings for the cultural heritage sector. STILT's products — book cradles, exhibition mounts, lecterns, and related display, support and care solutions — are sold to museums, libraries, archives, antiquarian booksellers and private collectors worldwide. For current products and commercial inquiries, please visit stiltbookcradles.com.
Natasha's work — both past conservation practice and current product design — is grounded in a single concern: the long-term care of written cultural heritage.
Philosophy
The philosophy of the Redbone Bindery stressed the importance of combining current knowledge of ethical conservation practice with the skills of an expert craftsperson. This resulted in work that met the strict ethical requirements of cultural heritage conservation while achieving the highest degree of period-style aesthetic.
Memberships and Committee Work
Natasha is a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. She is past member of the Foundation of Certified Restoration Quality in Monument Care advisory committee (Stichting Erkende Restauratiekwaliteit Monumentenzorg) to help design an accreditation program (Restauratoren Register) for conservators in the Netherlands and she represented Dutch movable heritage conservators on the Central College of Experts in Restoration Quality (Het Centraal College van Deskundigen Restauratiekwaliteit). She sat on the Ethics committee of the Dutch Conservation Organization (Restauratoren Nederland).
Natasha was a member of the board of The Conservation Organization of North Holland (RVN). She is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Association of Book and Paper Conservators (IADA). In addition she is a member of the Dutch Book Historical Society (Nederlandse Boekhistorische Vereniging) and The Dutch Bibliophile Organization (Nederlands Genootschap van Bibliofielen). She currently sits on the board of The Collective Thought, a non-profit organization that promotes critical dialogue.
Education
Natasha holds a diplôme d’études collégiales in health sciences from Marianopolis College in Montréal, Québec. She graduated with honours from Concordia University in Montréal in Design Arts. She is currently studying Philosophy of Culture at the University of Groningen.
Notable work
From Blaue's famous atlases bound in contemporary vellum to Rembrandt's etchings in book form, Natasha has had the privilege of conserving titles which have become icons of paradigm-shifting moments in Western History.
Highlights at the bindery included the conservation of 5 first editions of Het Achterhuis, Anne Frank's famous diary as well as the Anna Maria van Schurman embroidered bindings collection at Museum Martena. From Aldines to first edition Darwins, from the earliest printings of Ptolemaei and Dürer to Freud's pivotal Die Traumdeutung, from Payne bindings to Canadian incunabula, a veritable microcosm of western knowledge, discovery and craftsmanship has passed through the bindery.
Teachers
Natasha apprenticed under Hans van der Horst in The Netherlands; John Smart in the UK; Courtland Benson of Doves Bindery, Richard Smart of Old English Bindery, Jan and Crispin Elsted of Barbarian Press, Reliure Hélène Francoeur in Canada. Residencies include the New York Academy of Medicine, Gladys Brooks Book and Paper Conservation Laboratory in New York and Washi Papermaking research and training in Japan.