Prolific French book collector Jean Grolier (1489-1565) possessed a tremendous affinity for books and a deep fascination with book binding. During his life, Grolier commissioned many custom bindings for the volumes in his collection. These custom bindings exhibited a design sensibility that favored Italian influence, featuring flowing geometric patterns and floral details.

The Grolier Ornamentali series from Paperblanks was inspired by one of his last commissions, a gold-tooled, marbled, brown leather volume with an interlaced curving design of single-line fillets and floral tools filling out the six-pointed star.