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in the living room or pepper their bookshelves with albums, more experienced photographers often wish for a more sophisticated way to display their work, without matting and framing each favorite print and sacrificing precious wall space.

Thomas Lombardo, founder and president of The House of Portfolios Co. Inc., offers a unique and painstakingly crafted gift idea for photographers hoping to display their best work in the best possible setting. Lombardo's sole craft is that of creating one-of-a-kind, durable portfolios for photos and artwork, and the native of Italy personally oversees a small staff and continues to create new designs.

"This is what I love to do," Lombardo said, hunching carefully over a pale green album he had just created one day prior to showing it at the PhotoPlus PhotoExpo in New York City recently. The design was so new, in fact, that Lombardo had yet to fix a price for the book, although he said the creation would likely sell for about $200. He explained that the new design, a light-weight, fabric-covered folio that opens via two flaps that meet in the middle and tie with a delicate ribbon, will be available in all 40 colors The House of Portfolios already offers, in addition to leather, suede, or Plexiglas and metal books.

Other designs available through Lombardo's company include slim portfolio books, which retail for $60 to $290; presentation cases with handles in a variety of sizes, retailing for $160 to $580, and clam shells, priced from $100 to $540. The House of Portfolios also offers nylon carrying cases for all of its products, in a variety of colors and starting at $80.

Photographers consider themselves artisans, but rarely think of their albums and carrying cases as in the same vein. Lombardo, however, sets Doubting Thomases straight with his portfolios; not a photographer himself, he explains his life's work with a small shrug and a simple declaration:

"What could be better than this?"

Binding Agreements

A unique company based out of Berkeley, Calif., might feel an affinity with Lombardo and his love for creating artistic solutions for fellow creatives. Fastback Creative Books has created a product that many photographers are flocking to.

The company pioneered a method for creating professional, bindery-quality paperback and hardcover books in an office environment, opening a year and a half ago with photographer Camille Seaman and Kevin Parker, president of Powis Parker, which manufactures the Fastback bindery system,

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