About Bella Forte

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At Bella Forte, we are passionate about creating exquisite hand-crafted custom books, presentation boxes and letterpress designs. Any idea involving books, boxes, or letterpress- share it with us, we will bring it to life. There is no project too simple, grand, or complex; when it comes to creating something from your imagination, we find a way to make it happen. At Bella Forte, we pull out all the creative stops. Our goal is to help you celebrate your special occasion or presentation your way and create custom projects exactly how you envision them.

The beauty of our work lies in the graceful combination of our contemporary design sense with the historical techniques of bookbinding and letterpress. Drawing on over 22 years of bookbinding experience, Bella Forte creates solid, archival books, boxes and custom projects that will last for generations to come.

Our commitment to the planet is apparent in all we do. We use 100% recycled papers processed chlorine-free with wind energy. Our decorative papers are made with sustainable plants and recycled cotton. Our letterpress paper is tree-free. And any scraps we don’t manage to use, we recycle. We plant a tree for every book ordered. We also have available to us thousands of papers from around the world to suite your exact needs.

We also design and print limited edition books both digitally or in letterpress.

To share the amazing art of bookbinding, Bella Forte offers year-round classes. Do you have a group of people interested in learning bookbinding in your area? Fabulous! We will happily travel to teach classes of five or more. Please contact us for rates.

Our satisfaction is seeing the expressions on our customers’ faces or read their letters expressing their complete satisfaction when they see their ideas truly come to life in the most exquisite way. Our products make great gifts to give or receive. Personalized one of a kind gifts celebrate the individual. We are all unique, your gifts should be too!

Please let us know how we can help create your dreams in books and print. Any project you can imagine is our delight to design and create!

about bridget, the woman behind it all

Bridget began her bookbinding career over twenty two years ago in Italy. After studying the arts of book binding, papermaking and book restoration abroad, she returned to the US and opened her first bindery in Center City Philadelphia. Initially, Bridget worked in book conservation. Over time, her love of design, creativity, and beautiful papers gave way to the custom work she now pursues as her primary focus.

Bridget loves being involved in every aspect of her work, whether it’s designing a special book or invitation, ordering unique papers from around the world that perfectly suit her customers’ needs, working presses and examining each print, or hand-setting type for gold embossing. Most of all, she enjoys working directly with clients to ensure their exact needs are met. She takes care and pride in all that she does, and she does it with love and enthusiasm!!

When Bridget isn’t busy in the bindery or the print studio, she is having fun raising two wonderful teenagers, meditating and enjoying her Mysore practice, camping and hiking in beautiful spots around the US, actively participating in global water and food issues, eating a vegan diet, traveling the globe, enjoying the incredible artwork of her partner Paul King and dreaming of her garden she hopes to have one day. Most of all Bridget loves sharing her life with good friends and family.