cbl-Newsletter 3/2024

Changes in the Executive Board of the supporting association cbl ascona

Two very valuable Board members will be leaving at the 2024 General Assembly.

Moena Zeller has been wholeheartedly committed to our cbl ascona for over 20 years. She represented the restoration courses for more than 10 years until the technical department was integrated into the Executive Board in summer 2014. The cbl's technical committee met around three to four times a year. At the General Assemblies, she reported on the activities of the Technical Department, which dealt with all the important activities of the Book Binding and Design and Paper and Book Restoration departments.   

Following the integration of the Technical Department into the Executive Board of the Association, Moena was active on the Executive Board for exactly ten years. In recent years, she has been responsible for the programme and has become an important source of ideas. She not only managed to create a programme with a broad range of content. Moena also repeatedly managed to attract well-known and experienced professionals to Ascona, which proved to be a real asset. At this intersection, she was also an important point of contact for the lecturers.

To list all of Moena Zeller's activities and achievements would go beyond the limits of possibility. Worth mentioning are her courses in book and paper restoration, which she taught with great passion for many years. Also worth mentioning are her school visits in Ascona and her valuable contribution to quality assurance. The school visits and discussions were not only important for the lecturers and the feedback culture, but also relevant for the eduQua certification. Over and again, Moena also contributed a great deal of personal resources, equipment and materials to ensure the successful running of the courses. On behalf of the Executive Board and the entire Association, she deserves our sincere thanks. The Executive Board and the Association wish her all the best for her professional and personal future.

Urs Bernet joined cbl during the coronavirus crisis and was elected to the Executive Board at the 2021 Ordinary General Meeting. As Vice Rector at that time, he opened the doors to the Schule für Gestaltung Zürich (SfGZ) for the cbl and, together with the representatives of the student council, made it possible not only to set up and design a bookbinding workshop, but also to organise courses in Zurich. It was thanks to Urs Bernet that the cbl gained a second mainstay. The book workshop opened in May 2023. The first courses were held in 2023.

In 2022, Urs Bernet took the initiative to re-position the centro del bel libro ascona. In the spring semester of 2022, a class developed a design study for a new image for the centro del bel libro ascona as part of their training at the SfGZ. The Executive Board had the pleasure of taking note of this creative masterpiece at the beginning of November 2022. Increasingly limited resources have not yet made it possible to put this work into practice. A career change led Urs away from the SfGZ to Biel at the beginning of 2024.
On behalf of the Executive Board and the entire Association, he deserves our sincere thanks. The Executive Board and the Association wish him all the best for his professional and personal future.

Sandra Merten will be proposed as a new member of the Executive Board. Together with current Executive Board member Jorgé Ruiz, she will strengthen the cbl representation in Zurich.