The Founders.
It all began with a scattering of black squares and triangles in a bookbindery in Groningen…
Mahalia McNeill
Together with Natasha Herman, Mahalia co-founded STILT® where she brought her understanding of exhibition display, keen eye for detail and strong sense of aesthetic to the development and design of the product.
Mahalia McNeill graduated from The School of Art History and Theory at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and attended the International Masters in Curating Art at the University of Stockholm in Sweden.
Mahalia has worked for Amsterdam based design agency ‘We Smell The Rain’ as well as at Redbone Bindery. She now lives in New Zealand with her husband and two sons where she co-organises the ‘Single Fin Mingle’, an annual international surf, art and music festival.
Our Support
Nadine Touré is the brain behind the hands in our social media films.
Emery Kruit and his friends help us build our cradles, ledges and sleeves while they learn what it takes to bring a quality cultural product to market.
Mascha van Kempen is the quiet genius behind the design of our stickers and instruction labels.
Melissa Winchester is our master embroiderer. She designed the Stilt® bookmarks and hand crafts each one individually.
Melle Wondergem is our systematization consultant, custom machine maker and cheerleader.
Ernst Spek, our marketing consultant, has shown us the fun and creativity in bringing a product to market.
Natasha Herman
Together with Mahalia McNeill, Natasha co-founded STILT® and is currently sole-proprietor of the company. Natasha brings her knowledge of the preservation of antiquarian books as well as her craft and design skills to the products.
Natasha Herman has been conserving and restoring antiquarian books for collectors, booksellers & libraries since 1996. She graduated from the Design Arts program at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada and her atelier, Redbone Bindery, was established in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 2002. Clients include Collectie Six Amsterdam, The Royal University of Groningen, Bibliotheek van het Ruusbroecgenootschap Belgium, as well as established international antiquarian book collectors and booksellers across Europe and North America.
Natasha has taught at the National Library of Australia, the Auckland City Library in New Zealand, the Canadian Museum of History as well as guest lecturer at the Reinwardt Academie, the University of Amsterdam and the Royal University of Groningen. Currently, she is studying Philosophy of Culture at the Royal University of Groningen.
She sits on the board of directors for the Northern Dutch Association of Conservators and is a fellow in good standing at the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC).
Our Gratitude
Stilt® would never have gotten off the ground without the enthusiasm & generous encouragement of Rens Top, Koninklijke Bibliotheek; Erik Geleijns, Huis van het Boek; Jeroen Schierenberg, Antiquariaat Schierenberg BV; Gerda Huisman, former curator Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Special Collections; Anne Hillam, Hillam Book & Paper Conservation; Christian Westergaard, Sophia Rare Books; Nancy Boehm, private collector; Nancy Campbell, author.
