Pick up this book and you know immediately that it means business. At 250x200mm with a 22mm spine and 240 pages of dense, richly illustrated content, Kishies and Cuddies carries real authority — the kind of book that earns a permanent place on a studio shelf rather than a coffee table.
What makes it genuinely compelling is the subject. Shetland basketry — kishies, cuddies and the associated traditions of rope and straw-work — was designated critically endangered on the Heritage Crafts Red List in 2019. Author Lois Walpole has assembled the most comprehensive reference on the craft in existence, and the print brief had to match that ambition. Smooth 115gsm uncoated pages accentuate the raw, tactile nature of the subject matter; the colour of the woven baskets — vivid blues, golds and earthy naturals — comes through with warmth and depth.
Kishies and Cuddies: A Guide to the Traditional Basketry of Shetland is the definitive encyclopedia of a craft tradition that was very nearly lost. Written by Lois Walpole with contributions from Dr Stephanie Bunn, Ewen Balfour, Helen Balfour and Eve Eunson, it charts the history, materials, techniques and makers of Shetland's basketry heritage.
The pages are packed with photographs of craftspeople at work, historical images, step-by-step instructional spreads and illustrated guides. It is part archive, part workshop manual, part love letter to a living tradition. The book sold so well that Lois returned for a reprint without changing a single element of the spec. As she put it: "The response has been very good to the look and feel of the book."
The inside pages run on 115gsm uncoated — a stock with a natural, tactile quality that sits in perfect harmony with the raw materials on the page. Photographs of straw, cord and woven objects reproduce with warmth rather than gloss-heavy saturation, exactly right for a book about material culture.
The cover is wrapped in 170gsm silk and finished with a matt laminate — restrained, confident, and suited to the book's scholarly authority. The greyboard casebound construction gives the finished book substantial weight in the hand. FSC-certified stocks were chosen throughout, a meaningful nod to the sustainable ethos at the heart of the subject itself.
The cover composition is a masterclass in restraint. Shetland basket objects — a round straw kishie, a tiny coiled pot, scissors, a bundle of cord — are arranged in a loose grid on a natural-toned background. The objects are small relative to the page, giving the design breathing room and an almost scientific, cataloguing quality.
Inside, the layout moves confidently between text-heavy pages, full-bleed photography, detail close-ups and instructional step-by-step sequences. The colour photography is the book's visual engine — vivid blues and golds of rope toig baskets pull the eye across pages that might otherwise be dense with text. On 115gsm uncoated, the colour lands with warmth rather than gloss-heavy saturation.
A 240-page hardback on a niche subject might sound straightforward, but the decisions at every stage — stock, finish, size, binding construction — all needed to work in service of the subject matter. We advised on 115gsm uncoated for the inside pages specifically because of the warmth it lends to photographic content on natural subjects.
The casebound construction was the only binding that made sense for a reference work of this depth. Casebound books lie flat when opened — essential for instructional content where a reader following a basketry guide needs the pages to stay open. The 22mm spine provides room for the full title and author name, making the book findable on a shelf as well as beautiful in the hand.
Choose uncoated stock for craft and material subjects. Photography of hand-made objects and natural fibres reproduces with more warmth on uncoated paper than on gloss or silk.
Let the subject drive the cover design. A clean composition of the objects the book is about will outperform a busy design every time.
Casebound binding is the practical choice for instructional books. Pages lie flat, the book holds its shape over years of use, and the construction signals permanence.
Matt laminate is underrated. It lets the cover design breathe and gives the finished book a premium, considered quality.
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