Ex Fumus is a book project run by visual artist Gabriela Larsson. It attempts to assemble disparate parts of her practice that all revolve around ‘the book as an object’ in order to offer services that advocate books and their inherent magical materiality, surpassing time and life, seemingly forming an almost alchemical phenomenon. The name Ex Fumus roughly translates into ‘Out of the smoke’ and refers to the course in which this venture took place as a sort of ‘rise from the ashes’ endeavour. It was built upon what was left, both physically and mentally, after Larsson’s life went into flames one late September night many years ago. Larsson lost the place for both her private dwellings and her artist’s workshop. The name also refers to the word ‘ex libris’ with its further association to books, ownership and materiality. Ex Fumus emanates from a small village in Värmland in the west of Sweden. This is from where wood engravings, bound and rebound books as well as other objects take form. Mending the old and broken, finding new ways of repurposing objects and working with a sustainable way of making is central to the practice.