Jan Sobota

He is known for his often playful sculptural bindings that transform the book into a three-dimensional work of art.

The son of a book collector,[2] Sobota trained in Czechoslovakia as an apprentice in the Plzeň workshop of Karel Šilinger and graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts, Prague, in 1957.

[3] He completed his master's degree at the same institution in 1969, and in 1979, was declared "Meister der Einbandkunst" in Germany.

[3] In 1982, Sobota and his family defected to Switzerland, where he worked privately and demonstrated bookbinding in Basler Papier Muhle.

[5] With his wife Jarmila Sobota he established the Saturday's Book Arts Gallery, which moved with the couple.