01
Re:collection
Gather photographs, memories, references, and story fragments that hold personal meaning or creative potential.
Memory Card Library Workshops
Memory Card Library
× Bookbinding
A reflective and hands-on workshop for turning memories, personal observations, and story fragments into a handmade book.
View workshop details
01 / The workshop
Great stories start from
the littlest observations
The Memory Card Library × Bookbinding Workshop brings together reflective writing, visual storytelling, and bookmaking.
The workshop is intended to demonstrate how individual fragments of writing, imagery, and memory can be collected, reflected on, and reorganised for shaping stories.
No previous bookbinding experience is required.
02 / The process
From fragments
to stories.
02
Re:flection
Introspect beyond what you see. Revisit the people, places, emotions, and ideas around each image.
03
Re:curation
Select, arrange, and sequence individual cards to discover relationships, shape ideas, and develop possible narratives.
03 / The outcome
Bind your story.
Select five of your Memory Cards and sew them together into a small handmade book.
This binds the separate cards into a connected object while keeping it open for further reflections and writing.
Leave with a personal story you can hold, revisit, and continue developing beyond the workshop.
Current workshop / Free ticketed event
Indie Writers Festival 2026
Saturday
29 August
- Time
- TBC
- Location
- Level 1, Creative Space,
Te Manawa (Westgate) Library,
11 Kohuhu Lane
Massey, Auckland - Capacity
- Maximum 12 participants
- Experience
- No previous writing or bookbinding experience required
04 / What to bring
Start with
an intention.
Before the workshop, participants will be invited to submit one to five images that are meaningful to them or connected to a story, idea, or memory they want to explore.
The images will be printed and prepared before the workshop, allowing the participants to begin reflecting and creating immediately.
These can include:
- personal or family photographs
- letters or documents
- illustrations or found images
- tickets, receipts, or postcards
- references connected to a memory, character, place, scene, or idea
Start with an intention — it will shape what you collect and how you tell your story.
05 / What's included
- 01One Memory Card Library set (10 cards & 1 notebook)
- 02Printing of up to five submitted images
- 03Reflective writing and exercises
- 04Bookbinding exercise and materials
- 05A handmade book of selected Memory Cards
06 / Facilitators
Memory Card Library
John Borras Tan
John Borras Tan is a designer and visual artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. His practice explores memory, identity, and everyday observations through graphic design, photography, printed matter, and bookmaking.
He is the creator of the Memory Card Library, a design research project developed through his Master of Design at Auckland University of Technology, exploring how introspective cataloguing can help people collect, reflect on, and develop personal stories.
Bookbinding
Fleur Williams
Fleur Williams is a bookbinder and maker based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. With a dedication to handcrafted processes, she explores how materials, detail, and story come together to create meaningful objects.
She is the Senior Technician at Auckland University of Technology’s School of Art and Design Bindery, where she teaches a range of traditional and contemporary bookbinding and paper engineering techniques.
Memory Card Library Workshops
Begin with
one image.
Bring a memory, an idea, or a fragment of a story. Leave with a handmade book and a new way of collecting, reflecting on, and developing your stories.