iPhone gets a new look from Waterford bookbinder

Thomas Carroll runs a boutique bookbinding and mobile phone cover  business from his home in Waterford city. From a family of printers, he worked as a bookbinder on Nantucket Island in the US, where his work was bought by the heiress and art collector Bunny Mellon. With a family background in printing that goes back four generations, he has developed into creating original phone cases modelled on classic leather-bound books.

Describe your interiors style?

It’s kind of my own style. I don’t really overthink interior style – I just go with the flow and follow my instincts. Back in 2000, I completely renovated my present home, a three-storey end of terrace Victorian house that dates from 1890s. Over the years I have collected a lot of kilims, furniture and artwork from my travels and from my time spent living in different countries. During the 16 years I spent in America I travelled a lot, exploring native American cultures north and south. I have several weavings from Bolivia that I bought from old ladies who had made each by hand. Before they could complete the sale they would beat the textile off a wall to banish any spirits that might be lingering in the woven material. Everything in the house is blended in together with lots of colours to give the place a warm welcoming feel.

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A leather case with Yeats’ Poems of Place. Photograph: Patrick Browne

Which room do you most enjoy?

Like most people I spend a lot of time in the kitchen but if I was to choose it would be the workshop-bookbinding studio area. It's an American-style cedar shingle building, which I designed and built with the help of a good friend. It's a big open plan single storey building with a covered deck (where a lot of tea is drunk) inside a stone-walled garden. In the bindery there are always lot of old books in for restoration, theses for students at certain times of the year and iPhone and iPad cases more recently. All of the tools and equipment are very old, some of which were recently catalogued by the Irish Print Museum. Everything is still done by hand. I had a bunch of German apprentices, who, to learn their trade, have to become journeymen working for bed and board. The neighbours thought a travelling circus came to stay. Because they have to wear specific uniforms they looked like something out of Stanley Kubrick's film Clockwork Orange when they took a break from work and sat on the American-style porch.

My library in the main house is generally where I greet customers. It’s a big open space with a high ceiling, pine floors and woodwork. My library is mainly reference books, some of my own design bindings, a good working library built up over the years. I have Buddhas picked up on my travels, which I find very calming. I also practice Qigong there – rolling up the rug every morning to free up floor space.

What items do you most love?

I love my rugs as they are a constant reminder of the countries I have travelled to. I am also very fond of some nice botanical prints I have collected over the years and a Bloome’s Pugnose map of Ireland. There are also various pieces of art around the place that I hold dear. Rob Dandurand is a good family friend from when we lived on Nantucket Island together and he gave me some lovely paintings. I am very fortunate also to have a few of local artist Pat Murphy’s pieces. I inherited a lot of furniture from American clients which I shipped home in a 40ft container, including a four-poster bed.

I also love my two Jack Russell dogs, Kelly and Amber. They come to work with me every day. And I have a book of Yeats’ work that I bought as single sheets at a show held by the Guild of Book Workers. I’ve made it into a leather-backed book that sits in a clamshell box lined in suede.

What would you save from a fire?

Obviously, as a priority, everything with a pulse! After that it would have to be the rugs, prints, art pieces, books and plants – in that order. My workshop is separate from our home. If that went up, truthfully, I wouldn’t know what to save – I’d just cry.

Do you collect anything specific?

I often pick up stuff from beach walks, for example; recently I fount old metal rusted out cog that looked like Hello Kitty! It brought me back to when my two daughters, Poppy and Zerea, were young and collectors. I have it hanging from old stone wall outside the kitchen.

Which artist do you most admire?

I love art and see it everywhere in everything. I like Francis Bacon, Carmen Herrera, Pat Murphy, Sean Keating, Warhol. I find it amazing the time and skills involved, the poverty and struggle and dedication behind artists and I love reading the stories behind their work.

Your favourite travel destination and why?

India. I spent a lot of time there on a low budget and travelled all over – journeying second-class and unreserved as it’s the only way to really meet the locals up close. I love it. I’m enthralled by the colours, the aromas, the temples, the people and the chaos and have returned whenever I can for more.

If you had €100,000 to spend what would you buy?

1956 Ford Thunderbird. The rest I’d blow on airline vouchers.

Thomas Carroll will be displaying his phone covers to trade at Showcase at the RDS, Dublin, which opens Sunday, January 22nd.

Tomscases.com; thesisonline.com