Search Press is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and, as leading
publishers of arts and crafts books, we were excited to catch up with them
S
earch Press was
founded in 1970 by
Lotti de la Bedoyere,
who successfully
headed up the company for
nearly 30 years until 1997,
when she retired and handed
the reins over to her son
Martin de la Bedoyere. Martin
continued to develop and
grow the business over the
decades, into the successful
award- winning company
it is today.
As the leading suppliers
of some of our favourite craft
books, we couldn’t resist using
their anniversary as an excuse
to catch up with them.Have your books always been
in the craft sector?
Craft has been at the core
of Search Press since its
conception, and still is today.
We live and breathe craft, andare even more passionate
about it now than ever.What was the fi rst book
published by Search Press?
The rst published books were
in a little Leisure Craft series
that we co-published with the
German publisher Herder.
These were small
staple-bound 32-page booklets,
measuring 165mm square. The
rst was on basket weaving,
the second on batik. As part of
our 50th celebrations in 2020,
we are offering PDFs of these
fascinating little books for free
on our website.
Visit http://www.searchpress.com
to enjoy and download.What do you consider to the
the ethos of Search Press?
We pride ourselves in producing
the highest-quality, best-value
art and craft books we can –
books that will encourage and
inspire creativity with clear
step-by-step instructions that
enable the reader to create
their own work of art easily.How do you select the
subjects and authors you
work with?
We’ll identify a current or rising
trend and research the most
suitable, specialist author to
develop a book with. Or we
may nd an artist or crafter
who is doing incredible work,
and approach them to publish
a book with us.How many books a year
do you publish?
We publish over 100 booksper year, which comprises
our own in-house Search
Press publications and some
packaged books sourced from
other publishers, which we
then carefully mould into our
Search Press publications
under our own imprint. There
are also some wonderful craft
books published by overseas
publishers, so we carefully
select the most appropriate
of those to translate and
include in our publishing list.How many areas of craft do
you cover?
Probably too many to count!
In needlecraft we cover various
genres including knitting,
crochet, sewing, embroidery,
quilting, and textiles. We then
have our art titles which cover
drawing, sketching and painting
in all mediums. And we cover
general craft as well whichSearch Press
50 years of
Our Search Press favourites
Papercut Landscapes
by Sarah King
Cover price: £12.99
One of our 2019 favourites, Sarah King’s
Papercut Landscapes is perfect for beginners
and experienced papercutters alike. Taking
you on a journey from coast to countryside,
Sarah’s book guides you through the basics
from choosing your materials to the foundation
techniques, to the best colour choices for your papercut
creation of seaside, town life to wilderness scenes.The Addictive Sketcher
Cover price: £14.99
There’s nothing like going back to basics with
just a sketchbook, a pen or pencil and a great
teacher to guide you through the basics to
harness your own unique style.
Adebanji Alade is renowned for his passionate
and engaging style, which is carried through
to his writing in this lively and instructive book covering pencils,
charcoal and graphite as well as oil painting techniques to use
in land and seascapes, portraits and crowd scenes.2020A new
release
from choosing your materials to the foundationBe up to date with the latest releases by signing up to the Search Press newsletter by visiting http://www.searchpress.compublishers of arts and crafts books, we were excited to catch up with them