About

Virtual Open Studio - Now Live via ICon Accreditation Website

I am very proud to have my virtual open studio featured as part of the 20th Anniversary of the Institute of Conservation Accreditation Scheme. I went through the application process in 2006 and since achieving accreditation in 2007 have been a mentor for conservators from a variety of conservation disciplines including textile conservators and preservation managers. It is a hallmark of quality in terms of practical work, ethics, judgement and decision-making, similar to charter-ship in other professions. Here is a link to the Icon website which also features incredible conservators from other disciplines and their work.
https://icon.org.uk/accreditation/20th-anniversary-of-icon-accreditation/virtual-open-studios

Ann-Marie Miller ACR, MA, has been a practicing book and and archives conservator for over 20 years. She first studied the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, followed by a post-graduate studies in Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts, London. Alongside this, she studied bookbinding over 3 years at the London College of Printing and worked for the Wyvern Bindery, London. After graduating, she worked for private conservators, book dealers and several large institutions, alongside undertaking an internship with Frederick Bearman ACR. Ann-Marie then worked as a book conservator at the British Library from 2004 until 2011, gaining experience on one of the richest and most diverse collections in the world. She conserved items from across the collections including treasures such as the first illuminated Zoroastrian Manuscript and the Mercator Atlas. She achieved accredited status from the Institute of Conservation as a book and archives conservator in 2007. She is a mentor and assessor for the ICon Professional Accreditation Scheme and collection advisor for the Association of Independent Museums.

As a result of her own practical experiences, she is keen to encourage the professional development of conservators and is a keen advocate of the conservation profession. She lectures about conservation practice and also teaches conservation techniques to bookbinders and conservation students and regularly hosts interns. She attained her NVQ Level 3 Learning and Development in 2009 and has recently completed the Leadership Launchpad Programme run by the Institute of Conservation and Think Be Do Leadership.

Ann-Marie set up Codex Conservation in 2011 and has enjoyed working for a broad variety of clients ever since. She has recently worked on architectural plans, Japanese Bindings, Hebrew incunabula, ephemera, seventeenth-century medical tracts and a number of leather and parchment account and stationery bindings. Her clients include large institutions such as: the Royal Horticultural Society, the Museum of London, the Charterhouse Museum, Westminster School Archives, Dulwich College Archives, the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, antiquarian book dealers and private collectors.

Codex Conservation has a professional listing on the Conservation Register.

Please scan the QR code for a direct link.

Here are links to the some recent publications by Ann-Marie Miller:
Blog post for the Institute of Conservation, hoping to inspire other conservators to create their own funding opportunities working with accredited museums. www.icon.org.uk/resource/looking-for-opportunities-in-lockdown-successfully-applying-for-ace-hlf-funding-as-an-individual.html?dm_i=6S6,79TM6,FZ0K41,THLCY,1

Ellie Darton-Moore & Ann-Marie Miller, "Creating a Sustainable Museum Within Historic Buildings and a Functioning Almshouse: The Charterhouse Museum", 2020 Studies in Conservation, Volumes 65: P60-P62

"Review of Aspects of Japanese Book Conservation for the Independent Paper Conservators’ Group London 1 October 2019, Icon News No.85, December 2019, pp24-5. https://icon.org.uk/system/files/iconnews_85_-_december_2019_web.pdf

"Conserving Parchment Bindings - Working with the Middle Temple Archive", "Bookbinder, Journal of the Society of Bookbinders", Volume 32, 2018, pp.7-14. (link will be provided when available.

"A New Approach for the Conservation of Parchment Stationery Bindings", ARC Magazine No.350, October 2018, pp.10-12 (link will be provided when available.

"Vacuum Storage Bags and Inexpensive and Convenient Tool for the Temporary Storage of Items Infested with Pests and Mould". ICon Book & Paper Group Publication 2018
thebookandpapergathering.org/2018/03/13/vacuum-storage-bags-an-inexpensive-and-convenient-tool-for-temporary-storage-of-items-infested-with-pests-and-mould/

"Conservation News People's Palace Press Cuttings Given New Lease of Life" www.library.qmul.ac.uk/archives/news/conservation-news--peoples-palace-press-cuttings-given-new-lease-of-life.html (an article about the conservation of an enormous stationery binding, written by the archivist, Adele Allen)

"A Team Effort - An Account of Hosting An Intern in Private Practice", ICon Book & Paper Group Publication 2017
https://thebookandpapergathering.org/2017/03/21/a-team-effort-an-account-of-hosting-an-intern-in-private-practice-2/

"The preservation of damage? The conservation treatment of a unique collection of bomb-damaged books", IIC "News in Conservation", Vol. 52, February 2016 https://www.iiconservation.org/node/6198

Lecture Review of Edward Cheese's Lecture for the Independent Conservators Group, May 2016
https://thebookandpapergathering.org/2016/05/03/course-review-reading-machines-problems-and-possibilities-in-rare-book-and-manuscript-conservation/