About me

     

My name is Teodora Poiata but everyone calls me Teo, that's where my bindery's name comes from. TeoStudio is a bookbinding workshop specialized in unique, old style leather journals and design bindings. If you are a book lover, a writer or an artist and you want to own a special notebook to write in, you've come to the right place! Every binding I make is my original design and I'm the solo artist behind the workbench, but nothing could be possible without the assistance of Loyd, the bindery cat. 

My studio is located in the beautiful city of Évora, Portugal, where I create surrounded by nature and history. I settled here after wandering for some years, because this quiet small place resonated with me the most. My love for art has been with me since I can remember. I was born in Romania in a family of artists and I grew up surrounded by paintings and books.

My grandmother was a librarian and she had an amazing collection of books which I remember reading while growing up. Each year on my birthday she would offer me a beautiful bound book with a dedication written in old style calligraphy and signed "grandma". Looking back, I see it was then that I fell in love with book bindings.

I went to the university to study the conservation of mural paintings and from there on, I got my Master in visual arts. I like to think of myself as an artist, as I’m passionate about art in many different forms. It was in 2005 when I moved to Portugal that I really discovered the universe of bookbinding and soon after, I dedicated myself to it completely. It is what truly makes me happy, to get up every day thinking on the beautiful books I will create. To work closely with my customers on their special projects and to create original book art pieces. To know that my art makes people happy.

My bookbinding style is influenced by the ephemeral quality of objects surrounding us and their passage through time. I love to work with old leather that shows the marks of a previous life, I also love to use in my bindings all kind of pieces with history that I collect. I am passionate about collecting art, books, historic materials and other oddities... I love to travel and to discover flea markets all over the world.

At the moment I am trying to take a step forward and explore new sides of bookbinding - publishing, fine binding, papermaking and book arts. As off 2024 I started offering one on one bookbinding workshops, but so far it's been limited to only a few spots per year. I also enjoy doing collaborations for artist books, theater or movie props and any kind of art project that would challenge my creativity so if you're interested, please drop me a line!

Thank you for for stopping by, I hope you will enjoy :)