First orders were for friends and family. The news spread among friends of illustrators and architects that we could make them a personalised notebook. They could choose their own format, paper and cover, something that was not possible to find in any store.

We created a Facebook page. It was more about posting photos of what we did rather than trying to make it our full-time job. But when I finished my architecture studies, I realised books were what I was most passionate about and so I dedicated myself entirely to Aanda Craft.

In classic books the sewing is not exposed and is created separately from the cover. What we like the most is outer sewing. A thicker thread is used, the sewing is expressive and is connected to the cover. It allows a book to open flat, which for an illustrator or a painter is very useful.

There was a lot of improvisation, as we started from scratch. People have come to us with their own textiles and challenged us to master our techniques. We value the fact that every sketchbook created here is sewn by hand and they are all unique.