Benjamin (French nationality, 1983) fell in love with bookbinding while studying illustration in Strasbourg, France. From the beginning his interest has been towards the experimental side of the craft; however, determined to learn the 'proper' ways he embarked on a journey that took him to Switzerland (Ascona- Centro del bel libro- the inspiration for his company name), Germany (Göttingen- die Buchmanufaktur) and England (London- Shepherds Bookbinders, Book Works). After these years of working in the trade he started his own bindery, Elbel Libro, currently in Amsterdam, NL, which he runs together with his wife Kieke Schaaper.
 

Benjamin has developped innovative structures for the book and the album such as the dos rapporté, onion skin binding, the Shrigley, which he shares with the international bookbinding community via workshops and printed tutorials.