Life & Work with Christina Highfield of Downtown Kalamazoo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Highfield

Hi Christina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
BookField started off with a simple goal; to save books from the landfills. I noticed that books were the first to be thrown out when it comes to garage sales or estate sales and it broke my heart that something that was once cherished is now seen as garbage. The more I got into book selling, the more I noticed just how “worthless” others deemed books. Something that was my main companion growing up, that lead me to magical worlds to escape the harsh realities of this world; discarded as if they meant nothing. It became my little mission to save as many books as I could from the landfills and if a book was truly damaged, beyond repair, I wanted to give it a second chance as art. Eventually, I taught myself book binding and book repair, services I now offer to the public and skills I use regularly to repair books.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Mainly getting others to believe that what I’m doing is for the good of the books and our environment. Since I began making journals out of discarded book covers, there’s always someone who needs to tell me at my markets or comment on social media, that what I’m doing is destroying books or asking how could I rip apart a book just to turn it into art? When I’m choosing books for my art, there’s a lot of factors that go into why that specific book was turned into art. For the most part, its because that book was falling apart. It’s spine is cracked or falling off, the covers aren’t attached, its missing pages, the pages are colored or drawn on. It’s the book that sits in the Little Library for months before eventually getting tossed because no one is taking it home. It’s the boxes of books I get from our local libraries that were donated to them and not saleable. The books I turn into art were already labeled as trash, when I believe with my whole heart that no book is garbage. Even if it’s falling apart, there are materials within that book that can be used in many ways and it deserves that chance.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My main specialization is book binding. While I started of selling books and still love it, I have found my passion in book bookbinding. It started off just as an experiment; could I turn the old book covers that I had been hoarding for years into a journal? That first journal really opened the doors and showed me how I could bring my creative side into my bookstore. After I spent a year making journals specifically from discarded book covers, I began to wonder what other journals I could make. This eventually led me to creating the custom special editions that everyone loves. I started taking paperbacks that would sit in my shop for years and giving them new hardcovers with custom designs. This is the only time I will take a “new” book to turn it into art. It’s my way of taking the skills I learned to elevate books that were walked by every day simply because they weren’t pretty. What really sets me apart from other custom bookbinders is my hand dyed fabric. I created a journal and book series called ‘Walk Through Michigan’ where every cover is custom dyed with fauna locally foraged here in Michigan. Each cover is completely unique and really shows off how beautiful our state really is throughout all of the seasons. The majority of my journals now feature hand dyed fabric, either from the ‘Walk Through Michigan’ series or from leftover dye used when creating paper. My favorite part is that fact that every dye I use is 100% natural using foraged foliage or food waste.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
As cheesy as it sounds, Mother Nature deserves all of the credit. BookField has always been more than a bookstore or bookbinding service. It’s an homage to nature and always has been. I love books, there’s no denying that but I would have never started this goal of saving them from landfills had it not been for my immense love of nature. Our Earth has given so much to us and I want to highlight that in everything that BookField does, Whether that’s using naturally, foraged materials for dying fabric or using bark discarded after thunderstorms to create unique journal covers. My inspiration comes from nature and the woods. I want everyone else is see what I see; to see how beautiful the world is around us if we just stopped for a minute and looked. For them to see, why it’s so important that we do all that we can to protect Earth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bookfield.etsy.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bookfieldbooks
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/bookfieldbooks