Milwaukee Community Printing Hub Shutters
The Bindery is closed. Property for sale.
The Bindery. Photos by Jeramey Jannene.
The Bindery has come unbound.
After an almost seven-year run, owner Zachary Lifton announced that the creative hub is closed.
“The Bindery is closing due to the state of the national economy over the past number of years, in combination with the timing of the pandemic… all smashed together with the economics of small arts-business ownership in the context of both Milwaukee at large, and hte present administration at the federal level,” said Lifton in a Facebook post.
At its core, The Bindery was a book binding service based in Bay View. But, it was also a coworking space, event space, makerspace and print shop.
It was a business born of chance. Lifton, in exploring a move to Milwaukee in 2016, spotted the damaged wooden sign of the Wisconsin Book Bindery. In 2018, he launched The Bindery as a public benefit corporation that provided modern printing and binding services. And in 2019, he acquired the Wisconsin Book Bindery property, 347 E. Ward St., and its fixtures.
By 2021, Lifton and a growing list of partners were operating a coworking space in the renovated structure, offering an increasing number of services from the 8,900-square-foot building.
Now he’s moving on. Though many of the services will continue through others.
Lifton, who holds a master’s degree in historic preservation, is moving to New York to become executive director of Historic Ithaca. The property is being put up for sale.
Lead bookbinder Daniel Ehn will continue his book repair and binding practice as a solo practitioner. Assistant bookbinder Michelle Van Patten will continue to provide binding services and will teach binding and marbling classes at Anchor Press, Paper and Print (AP3), 900 E. Keefe Ave.
Milwaukee Zine Fest is to continue.
In the announcement, Lifton shared his challenges with running the small operation.
“I have also personally struggled in recent years with the ethics of customer pricing that pushes on being completely inaccessible–in balance with needing to pay our people a livable wage. I’ve struggled with work-life balance in my own sphere, and watched my sanity wane and my personal relationships bruise under my continual need to ‘burn the candle at both ends.’ It feels classic and cliche, but it’s truth that needs to be shared over and over: fellow artisans and small business owners, you are not alone… and you are allowed to move on to healthier, safer ground when it becomes time,” he said.
A liquidation sale is to occur on July 19 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. “While most of our equipment is spoken for, we have cool vintage-industrial furniture, random materials, hand tools, type drawers, chairs, funky office and kitchen stuff, old books, etc,” says the announcement.
“If our closure feels like a loss… now’s your time to make a new version of what we started here. Now more than ever, we need print media that is truthful, joyous, emotional, smart and led by those in the margins. We need self publishing resources and grassroots ways for People of Color, Queen/Trans people, Disabled People, Undocumented People and Refugees to have their voices published and celebrated. Milwaukee deserves this and I cannot wait to see what emerges from our ashes,” wrote Lifton. “Now’s your time.”
The property, across the street from the recently shuttered 1840 Brewing Company, is listed for sale for $1.35 million.
For more on The Bindery, see our 2021 profile of its opening.
2021 Photos
Exterior
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