COVER STORY Robin Mills met Emily Hicks in Bridport, West Dorset
© Emily Hicks Photograph by Robin Mills
’I
grew up a few miles outside Oxford, and was lucky being so close to the city with the ease of connections to the rest of the country. When I was tiny, my Dad, Chris Hicks, managed Blackwells bookshop in Oxford, having worked in various departments of the shop since school. When I was quite young he took up bookbinding full time, developing what had originally been a hobby. We had a brickbuilt workshop in our garden. With hindsight, I realise how formative his job was for me when I was young; to have a father whose job was his absolute passion, and was deeply creative. His work fell into three main categories; the restoration work, binding small print-runs of special press books, and theses binding for the academia of Oxford. At a certain time of the summer, students would deliver their PhD theses very early in the morning, and he would bind them within a 24hr turn-around. There was also the fine binding of valuable books, which were effectively works of art, and it was this work which won him several awards and much respect in the craft. Unsurprisingly, our house was full of books, and an unlimited supply of paper and craft materials which my parents encouraged me and my brother to use creatively. I was a bit of a swot at school, my mum being keen on academic achievement. She taught me to read before I started school, which gave me confidence, and mainly I found school easy and enjoyable. My secondary school was called Wheatley Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine November 2021 3
