pulp (n) a soft, wet shapeless mass of material
Handcrafted Bookbinding, Publishing & Creative Workshops in Johannesburg
PULP Paperworks is a team of experienced creatives, banded together by an obsession with paper, sustainability and all of the possibilities in-between. The PULP team are veteran bookbinders specialised in handmade processes and creative projects. With compassion for the earth and for our local suppliers. PULP is a professional ecosystem of skills exchange and development, our team includes craftsmen and apprentices from our local community to produce high quality, conscious books. Founded in 2019, we have since expanded into publication production, artist collaborations, workshops, branded stationery, internships, and independent publishing through Pulp Editions.
Pulp Paperwork’s is not simply a stationery or bookbinding business. We operate at the intersection of: Contemporary design, Publishing, Printmaking, Bookbinding craftsmanship, Creative education, Corporate Gifting and Community development. PULP uses strictly environmentally and socially ethical materials. For us, sustainability is more than recycling or ‘recycled’ products, it also applies to our work ethic. We bring together concepts from digital to analogue, bulk to bespoke - our team welcomes every challenge as a rule.
Pulp is both very passionate and intentional about community integration and outreach one of our most successful formats being through our Internship and Learnership Programs
We operate collaboratively, constantly developing new designs together with local guest artists, artisans and designers. PULP is for making your ideas come to life – from pulp to production. Our studio inside Victoria Yards gives us a deeper chance to contribute to a creative ecosystem which focuses on: Arts and culture, Artisan skills development, Community engagement, Urban regeneration, Sustainability, Education and collaboration.
bookbinder, book designer, workshop facilitator: Victoria comes from a visual arts background, and as such has gained a wide range of experience from project management and production to teaching and facilitation. During the past five years, her energy has been focused primarily on creating a sustainable business out of her skills and interests. Having embraced the challenges that come with small businesses, she takes joy in each and every opportunity to learn, and to share what she has learned with others.
bookbinder and studio manager: Oteng is a multifaceted artist born, bred & currently residing in Johannesburg, South Africa. She cultivates both fine & digital arts, exploring her talent and conducting research to further inform her practice, which is currently concerned with her ancestral understanding of art & documentation - and why it runs through her veins. She is a bookbinding & publishing team member at Pulp Paperworks, where she utilises her artisan abilities to physically create artistic, environmentally friendly monuments of documentation. She practices & enjoys journaling, gardening, yoga & Heartfulness meditation.
bookbinder: Shekinah Ngoy, born and raised in Johannesburg, began his journey with Pulp Paperworks in 2018 at the age of 15. During school holidays, he would come in to stitch some books and earn some pocket money. After completing his Matric in 2023, he took a step further in his passion and became a full-time bookbinder at Pulp Paperworks in 2024. Shekinah believes that bookbinding has the unique ability to take a person’s art and bring it into a formal, tangible form.
Social Media manager & part-time bookbinder: Odette is a contemporary paper artist. Her skills as a bookbinder and paper artist blend together in her creative practice and have become a celebration of paper and its many forms. Odette started at Pulp in 2023 as a bookbinding intern, and in that time published Unfolding Together: a portrait activity book. Ever since, she has been a part of the team, working on Pulp projects, and taking the lead over the Pulp social media accounts.
studio maintenance: Vivian ensures the studio is kept clean, ordered and well managed amid the chaos of large book production projects, product development and workshops.
Bookbinder and visual artist : Born in 1999, Tristan is a queer artist and zinester in love with indie print media, zines, illustration, and paper works. They are currently based in Johannesburg.
Pulp Paperworks
