You are on page 1of 241

To Fritz.

Published in 2014
by Laurence King Publishing Ltd
361373 City Road
London EC1V 1LR
tel +44 20 7841 6900
fax +44 20 7841 6910
e-mail enquiries@laurenceking.com
www.laurenceking.com

text 2014 Brandon Mise

Brandon Mise has asserted his right under the Copy-


right, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, to be identified
as the Author of this Work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may


be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording or any information storage and retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the
publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the


British Library.

ISBN-13: 978 1 78067 333 2

Assistant editor: Antonio Del Toro

Unless otherwise noted, all photography by


Lydia See lydiasee.com

Designed and composed by


Ghost & Company ghostandcompany.com

Cover designed by Pentagram with Jason Ribeiro

Printed in China
P.6 INTRODUCTION
01

P.16 PRESS HUMOR


02

P.30 GREETINGS & EPHEMERA


03

P.64 PRODUCTS & PACKAGING


04

P.82 BUSINESS
05

P.92 POLITICS
06

P.114 ANIMALIA
07

P.128 RETRO & THE WEIRD


08

P.148 TYPOGRAPHY
09

P.166 BOOK STRUCTURE


10

P.178 UNIQUE MATERIALS & TRICKY TECHNIQUES


11

P.200 POSTERS & BROADSIDES

P.226 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

P.228 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

P.230 PRESS BIOS


As far as I see it, I failed out of art school. I spent three years
of a four-year program designed to churn out top-notch, fast-
producing designers for the professional art world. I wasnt bad,
but I was a little slow, and probably procrastinated, but also
took time with my work. My grades suffered, and I switched to
English at the last minute in order to graduate on time.

Fast forward five years, as I am finishing up my graduate


coursework in creative writing. I am slaving away long into
the night, not on a word processor, but behind the crank of a
Vandercook 219 at the San Francisco Center for the Book,
printing various components for a literary journal Id started in
the midst of my graduate education, one painfully slow print at
a time. It was not for arts sake that I was back in the artisans
saddle, but rather I was feeding my curiosity for innovative
ways to deliver and contain the literature I was determined to
disseminate. My ideas for how to pull it off were too big for my
walletdoing it myself might have equaled hundreds of hours
of labor, but the results I gained from my toil were ones I could
never have afforded to pay somebody else to do. Simultaneously,
friends and colleagues who knew what I was up to were sending
clients requiring custom letterpress my way, and by the time I
had wrapped up my coursework, I was too busy being a press
monkey to look for a job in the real world.

It has been an interesting ride. Mostly self-taught, I relied on


bugging people already entrenched in the world of letterpress for
the answers I needed as I pieced together my studio. Complete
strangers helped me troubleshoot ornery presses whose spare
parts have not been manufactured for decades. People like Phil
P.6
P.7 Detail of a lockup of dingbats and sorts for Projeto Grafico by Philip Bell (p.158).
Brandon Mise lines up a sheet in the grippers of a Vandercook Universal I.

Ambrosi, whose printing operation in Saskatchewan and women who learned this stuff two generations
was started in 1929 by his father, spend their spare ago. I think of Fritz Klinke, of NA Graphics, the man
time sitting in front of a computer screen answering I have dubbed The Godfather of Letterpress, whose
the dozens of daily queries posted by young pups like story begins as a 12-year-old army brat in 1952,
me who have no mentor or manual to defer to. Most using his first press to print a weekly newsletter sold
experienced letterpress mechanics are long dead or by subscription to the soldiers on the base at Fort
out of work. Solutions for the various glitches that Bellvoir.Fritz, who diagnoses press problems daily
occur in the printing process are not easily found from his desk phone at NA Graphics, who can usually
on a bookshelf but still reside in the minds of men identify a problem by mere verbal description, has
P.8
Top: Tianyi Wang of Tiselle Letterpress works on her SP15 Vandercook press.
Bottom: Woodtype locked up in a Vandercook at Rar Rar Press.
even been known to diagnose the weird noises your concerted and communal effort to educate the public
press started making when you hold the phone up to about the value of letterpress.
the press. Incongruous to the competitiveness of what
is clearly a niche market, these folks are very willing There was a day when the phrase power of the
to share what knowledge they can offer. For the most press had a lot more meaning, when just about
part, the letterpress community has long fostered a anyone could jump behind the feed table of a platen
spirit of cooperation, and there is a common desire press and reproduce whatever they felt compelled
to revive an art that nearly died with the introduction to communicate in quantities of hundreds or
of offset printing. For the love of the craft there is a thousands. The progress of the printing industry
P.9
P.10 Typesetting room at The Arm, Brooklyn, New York.
had nearly walled off curious laymen from being able to
print whatever they felt like en masse and on their own
terms. But the days when one can independently produce
printed matter are coming back. Book arts and letterpress
centers are popping up in just about every major metro
area in the United States, from the more common book
arts model, like the San Francisco Center for the Book
and the Center for Book & Paper Arts in Chicago, to more
urban and underground centers like The Arm in Brooklyn,
NY, where any curious artist can rent a press and have
a stab at learning the craft. Less than a hundred years
ago, a letterpress class was common in high schools and
universities alike, but interest waned with the onslaught
of progress and only a handful can boast that they never
shut down their studios. The resurgence of letterpress
education is relatively new; back in 2006, former Blue
Barnhouse employee, and contributor to this book, Colin
Frazer was hired as Director of the Press at Colorado
College to revitalize a studio that for years had been scaled
down to a poorly funded and minimally used facility (he

Bottom: Sarah Roberts of Blue Barnhouse turns the flywheel of a 12x18 Chandler & Price platen press.
has since moved on from that position). Universities across
the nation are seeing a similar resurgence of teaching a
craft that had lapsed their curriculum for decades.

Use letterpress as a search term on Etsy, the ultimate

Top: Ken Charlson of Fugu Fugu Press operates a Heidelberg Windmill.


online tool for handcrafters to sell their homemade wares,
and watch the search results spool endlessly; many of
these artists have day jobs and do it for the love of the
craft more than for the prospect of paying the light bill.
Go to the National Stationery Show in New York City, year
after year, and you will see letterpress run amok at an
exponential rate, as artists attempt to take their hobby a
level up to career status.

Many of these wily artists are fast becoming the new


veterans of the field. Kyle Durrie, another Blue Barnhouse
veteran, started her own studio, Power and Light Press.
Itching to find a way to bring letterpress to the uninitiated,
she launched a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign
that funded her purchase of an old Chevy truck, which she
P.11
converted to a mobile letterpress studio. She has since traveled all over
North America as a highly visible proponent of letterpress.

While letterpress has mostly seen its fame in glossy wedding magazines,
lauded by the Martha Stewarts of the world, coveted by chic brides-to-
be as the ultimate in wedding stationery, it is one of the few genres of
letterpress that has become too saturated and stale. True, the letterpress
wedding invite is the bread winner of the fledgling studio and the
commercially successful studio alike, but the commercially driven realm
exhibits an already seen sameness. Therefore you will see nary a wedding
design in the pages of this book.

For five hundred years letterpress was the only easy option for
reproduction of literature, news, pamphlets, and the day-to-day needs
of commerce and industry. But with the innovations of the 20th century
came a revolution in printing, faster and cheaper, streamlining and
modernizing, and for a time tons of antique cast iron presses were
hauled to the scrap yard, left to rust in barns, collecting decades of dust
in a hobbyists basement. As a revitalized interest in letterpress gains
momentum, new artists scurry to salvage what is left of this nearly
forgotten era. With no urgency to print the daily commercial needs of
the world at large, we are left to ponder new possibilities and unique
application. For artists like Jeremy Luther, whose glorious eight-layer
Nike print (p.199) is a testament to the artists penchant for self-torture,
or Press NYs business card, which was run an entirely impractical sixteen
times through a Heidelberg Windmill, questions of efficiency, budget, and
time constraints are no longer the guiding values.

These abandoned relics of a lost era have allowed artists to steer away in
brave and unusual new directions, using these presses in ways that their
creators had never intended or imagined. This book explores the diver-
sity of the craft, casting light on those who have broken away from the
ordinary, who have breathed their distinct voices and visions into nearly
forgotten machinery. This collection of innovative, bold, and edgy art
illustrates what the future holds for a medium that nearly had no future.

Brandon Mise
P.12
P.13 Tim Chapman of Press NY operating a Heidelberg Windmill.
P.14
P.15 Detail of lead type at Looking Up Press.
P.16
P.17
P.18 No Uplifting Material - Brightwork Press
P.19 I Buy Type and Presses - Shooting Star Press
P.20 Fridays Confession - Trade Union Press
P.21 Editor Corrector - Brightwork Press
P.22 Crush Your Enemies - Brightwork Press
P.23 Rats Ass - Brightwork Press
P.24 A Few Typefaces - Shooting Star Press
P.25 Letterpress Agaah - Boxcar Press
P.26 C&P Humping - Genghis Kern
P.27 Laymans Guide to the Printers Anatomy - Incline Press
P.28 26 Lead Soldiers - Inky Lips Letterpress
P.29 Order - Tryckkammaren
P.30
P.31
P.32 Bullshit-o-meter - Blue Barnhouse
P.33 Burt Reynolds Thanks - Power and Light Press
P.34 Cheericorn - Lady Pilot Letterpress
P.35 Get Rowdy / Fuck Yeah Dude - Rar Rar Press
P.36 Zombie Thanks for the Ride - Genghis Kern
P.37 Beard Love - Power and Light Press
P.38 Garden Party Stand-up Cards by Suzy Ultman - Igloo Press
P.39 Santa Card - Zeichen Press
P.40 Darwin Love - Southern Pest Prints
P.41 Valentine - Delphine Press
P.42 XOXO - Hammerpress
P.43 Clinton Anniversary - Greenwich Letterpress
P.44 I Am Your Whore - Blue Barnhouse
P.45 Made for Each Other - District Dogs
P.46 NYC - Twig & Fig
P.47 Mother Teresa Bones - Snow Owl
P.48 Dont Fear Your Birthday - Blue Barnhouse [artist: Lisa Nance]
P.49 Birthday Retro - Hammerpress
P.50 Mother - Hammerpress
P.51 Baby in Belly - Fugu Fugu Press
P.52 Gremlin Baby - Oddball Press
P.53 I'm Sorry Tape - enormouschampion [photo: Jordan Provost]
P.54 Dont Fuck with My Serenity - Tiny Pine Press [photo: Cheryl Perez]
P.55 Holiday Elves - Fugu Fugu Press
P.56 Holiday Dog - Fugu Fugu Press
P.57 Holiday Cleveland - Oddball Press [with Vertallee Letterpress]
P.58 Santa Bones - Snow Owl
P.59 Jesus Saves - a. favorite design
P.60 Happy Hol1days - a. favorite design
P.61 Colonoscopy - Blue Barnhouse
P.62 3.5 Dancers - Lady Pilot Letterpress
P.63 Honey - Pepper Press
P.64
P.65
P.66 Playing Cards - Mink Letterpress
P.67 Calendar - Oddball Press [printed by Rohner Letterpress]
P.68 Spinny Thing - Blackbird Letterpress
P.69 Lady Pilot Coaster - Lady Pilot Letterpress
P.70 Twitter Bookmark - Bracket Press
P.71 Gracies Nipples - Paper Monkey Press [design: Ami & Genessa Kealoha]
P.72 Scooter - Angel Bomb Press [photo: Dan Marshall]
P.73 Scooter - Angel Bomb Press [photo: Dan Marshall]
P.74 Doorhang - Press New York
P.75 Dada CD Case - Richard Kegler [P22 Type Foundry]
P.76 Savage Republic CD Case - Independent Project Press
P.77 Menomena - Stumptown Printers
P.78 Never Enough Hope - Blue Barnhouse [art: Lauren Scanlon]
P.79 23 Posters in 23 Days - Lead Graffiti
P.80 R.E.M. - Independent Project Press
P.81 POLVO - Independent Project Press
P.82
P.83
P.84 Dave Chappelle - Blue Barnhouse [design: John Davis]
P.85 A Good Guy Business Card - Paper Monkey Press
P.86 SixScents - Chapel Press [design: 3 Deep ]
P.87 V Card - Delphine Press
P.88 Melbourne Real Estate - Chapel Press [design: Cornwell Design]
P.89 Business Card - Blue Barnhouse
P.90 Freelancers Union - Press New York
P.91 Need a Business Image - Stumptown Printers
P.92
P.93
P.94 Power of Love - Studio On Fire
P.95 Politicians Are Like Diapers - Trade Union Press
P.96 A Vote for Food Poster by Will Ruocco - Igloo Press
P.97 Turn on Tune in Cop out - Bracket Press
P.98 One Size Fits All - Bracket Press
P.99 Northerner / Southerner - Fameorshame Press
P.100 Liberate Berkeley - Zephyrus Image
P.101 Liberate Berkeley - Zephyrus Image
P.102 Treat Level Orange - Angel Bomb Press [photo: Dan Marshall]
P.103 How Dare You Osama - EVE Press
P.104 America Does Not Torture - Angel Bomb Press [photo: Dan Marshall]
P.105 Blood and Oil - Lizard Press [with KB Piskor & Kenneth Liu]
P.106 Marriage is Gay - Angel Bomb Press
P.107 Canada - Angel Bomb Press [photo: Dan Marshall]
P.108 Obama - Hand-cranked Letterpress
P.109 Fucking Shit is Right! - Blue Barnhouse
P.110 Stand by Your Man - Blue Barnhouse
P.111 Palins Ass - Blue Barnhouse
P.112 Bigot - Inky Lips Letterpress
P.113 Impeach Nixon - Zephyrus Image
P.114
P.115
P.116 Eggs - Mink Letterpress
P.117 Bird on Tree - Twig & Fig
P.118 Kitty and Donkey - Blue Barnhouse
P.119 Bird with Mask - Bracket Press
P.120 Batgirl - Jessica C. White [Heroes & Criminals Press]
P.121 Deer Field - Twig & Fig
P.122 Lion and Octopus - The Scarlet Letter Press
P.123 Things Left To Do - Anagram Press
P.124 MFA - Blue Barnhouse
P.125 Smoking Rabbit - Dandy Lion Press
P.126 Hellfire - Jessica C. White [Heroes & Criminals Press]
P.127 All Good Things - enormouschampion [photo: Jordan Provost]
P.128
P.129
P.130 Sunshine - Studio on Fire
P.131 The Strangers - Two Tone Press
P.132 Feast MPLS - Studio on Fire
P.133 Space Man - Boxcar Press [design: Ray Frenden]
P.134 Trip to the Moon - Fly Rabbit Press
P.135 Meteor Calendar - Oddball Press
P.136 Sundaes & Wieners - Studio on Fire
P.137 Sundaes & Wieners - Studio on Fire
P.138 Behind Bars - District Dogs
P.139 Evel Knievel - Snow Owl
P.140 Brooklyn Map - Pepper Press
P.141 Artist Book Fair Retro Lady - Peter Koch Printers
P.142 Science of the Atom - Angel Bomb Press
P.143 Science of the Atom - Angel Bomb Press
P.144 You Like It, It Likes You - Studio 204
P.145 Texas Thang - Studio 204
P.146 Go Nordeast - Angel Bomb Press
P.147 Fuck Im from California - Power and Light Press
P.148
P.149
P.150 Typographic Poster - Colin Frazer and Eleanor Annand
P.151 Unplug - Studio on Fire
P.152 JBLC - Richard Kegler [WNY Book Arts Center]
P.153 OMG - David Wolske
P.154 Tnk - Tryckkammaren
P.155 Zurich-Milano - babyinktwice
P.156 Chicken Feet - Colin Frazer
P.157 Wood Type Collage - Matthew Kelsey
P.158 Projeto Grafico - Philip Bell
P.159 2+5 Weirdos - Boxcar Press [design: Nate Williams]
P.160 Rotorelief No. 2 - David Wolske
P.161 Liquid Assets - David Wolske
P.162 Cheltenham F - Studio 204
P.163 TX - Studio 204
P.164 Some Days Feel Like Helvetica - a. favorite design
P.165 Too Much of Anything... - Fly Rabbit Press
P.166
P.167
P.168 Go Beyond It - Flatbed Splendor
P.169 Brownstone Book Neighborhood by Chandler OLeary - Igloo Press
P.170 The Drownable Species - NewLights Press [story: Brian Evenson]
P.171 Book 1: The Movement-Image - NewLights Press
P.172 Kosovo - EVE Press
P.173 Retro Girl Book - Crooked Letter Press
P.174 Define Your ISM - Petre Designs
P.175 Em III / IV - Blue Barnhouse
P.176 Board Game - EVE Press
P.177 Board Game - EVE Press
P.178
P.179
P.180 2013 AIGA Minnesota Design Show - Studio On Fire
P.181 2013 AIGA Minnesota Design Show - Studio On Fire
P.182 13 Moons - Suzanne Vilmain
P.183 ILSSA Poster - Flatbed Splendor
P.184 Kosovo detail - EVE Press
P.185 Merrie - Eleanor Annand
P.186 Recycled Box Cards - Lead Graffiti
P.187 Big Ben - Twig & Fig [illustration: Sam Posnick]
P.188 Napkins - Paper Monkey Press [with Elliott Allen & Sallie Reynolds Allen]
P.189 91% Battery - NewLights Press [text: MLKNG SCKLS by Justin Sirois]
P.190 Blind Debossed Occupation Card - Press New York
P.191 Ceci Nest Pas une Impression - Tipozero
P.192 Pennants - a. favorite design
P.193 Swim Pool - Dandy Lion Press
P.194 Railway - Krystan Bruce
P.195 Nachtschicht - babyinktwice
P.196 Liberation - Brightwork Press
P.197 Liberation - Brightwork Press
P.198 Butterfly / Anatomy - Bracket Press
P.199 8 Layer Nike - Jeremy Luther
P.200
P.201
P.202 Johnny Cash - Hand-cranked Letterpress
P.203 Maceo - Hand-cranked Letterpress
P.204 Hank III - Hand-cranked Letterpress
P.205 Boyds Coffee Broadside - KeeganMeegan & Co.
P.206 ZZ Top - Lead Graffiti
P.207 Sufjan Stevens - Hammerpress
P.208 Avett Bros - Trade Union Press
P.209 Avett Bros - Trade Union Press
P.210 Mount Eerie - Colin Frazer
P.211 Mount Eerie - Colin Frazer
P.212 Undiscovered Islands - Blue Barnhouse [design: Alex Rose]
P.213 Tom Morello - Blue Barnhouse [art: Lauren Scanlon]
P.214 Sick & the Dead - Two Tone Press [art: Michelle Dreher]
P.215 Walk-in Theater - Hand-cranked Letterpress
P.216 Bookopolis - Bookworks
P.217 Printers Ball - Bookworks/Kidlet Press
P.218 Schwarze Jungfernfahrt - babyinktwice
P.219 Kuechenplakat/Heute Metzgete - babyinktwice
P.220 Space in 2013 - babyinktwice
P.221 Metro Loop - Spark Letterpress
P.222 Us. - Press New York
P.223 Look Its Bob! - Hi-Artz Press [photo: Oz Kamaci]
P.224 Make Shit - Rar Rar Press
P.225 Need Drugs - Rar Rar Press
P.226
Id like to thank the following people for their Enormous thanks to the following Blue Barnhouse
contributions to the success of our letterpress folks: Sarah Roberts, Farrell, Emily Wismer,
studio, starting with the members of the original Krystan Bruce, and Lydia See, all of whom offered
Blue Barnhouse crew: Buzz Poole, John Davis, useful input and assistance with the hundreds of
Meighan Carmichael, Toby Mise, Colin Frazer, submissions we received, and picked up my slack in
Bridget Elmer, Christopher Barnes, and our the studio, as well as to our depraved BBH caption
honorary member, John Murphy. Id also like to writer, Tyler Dockery, who is mostly responsible for
thank those I consider mentors and contemporaries our wildly successful greeting-card line.
in the letterpress community: Fritz Klinke of NA
Graphics, Rori Zendek of Paper Monkey Press, And a big shout out to BBH Alumnus Antonio Del
Michelle Geiger, Steve Woodall, Katherine Case, Toro, who assisted me on all the nitty-gritty details
Colleen Stockman, Lance Wille of Hand-Cranked, of this book.
Tim Chapman of Press NY, John Horn of Shooting
Star Press, Kyle Durrie of Power & Light, Laurie
Corral of Bookworks, and most importantly the
San Francisco Center for the Book, which is mostly
responsible for getting me into this mess. Thanks
to my parental units and my many siblings for all
around support and encouragement, and to the
Ghost & Company crew for this amazing opportunity
and for their work to make this beautiful book
come together.

P.227
P.228
Brandon Mise has been doing letterpress since the year 2000. He is
the owner and operator of Blue Barnhouse, a letterpress greeting-
card company in Wilmington, North Carolina. He holds a BA in
English from East Carolina University, and an MFA in Creative
Writing from San Francisco State University, and most recently
has been pursuing another BA, in film studies at the University
of North Carolina, Wilmington. After a lucky break getting a job
as a witness camera operator on Iron Man 3, he is now pursuing
a career as an independent filmmaker with his own production
company, The Dark Academy.

Find the Author online:


web: bluebarnhouse.org
store: bluebarnhousestore.org
facebook: Blue Barnhouse
twitter: @bluebarnhouse, @darkacademy
tumblr: darkacademy.tumblr.com
P.229
A.FAVORITE DESIGN (59, 60, 164, 192) BABYINKTWICE (155, 195, 218, 219, 220)
a. favorite design specializes in designing and printing A MacBook, along with a lasercutter, wood type, a
timeless letterpress greeting cards with a classic platemaker, and presses from the 1960s are just some of
Americana feel and a focus on typography, catering the tools that Dafi Khne uses in his day job as a graphic
to high-end gift and stationery retailers and diverse designer and letterpress printmaker. Dafi studied at the
international consumers. The mission at a. favorite design Visual Communications Department at Zurich University
is to encourage long-distance warm fuzzies through snail of the Arts. In 2008, an internship with Hatch Showprint
mail, using classic design, often sweet and sometimes in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the oldest still-producing
cheeky sentiments. a. favorite design was founded in letterpress poster shops in the States, brought him
Chicago, Illinois, in 2005 by graphic designer turned into contact with print technologies from the 19th
letterpress artist Amber Favorite. century. With his bachelor thesis Woodtype Now!,
afavoritedesign.com Khne explored the potential of combining digital and
lasercutting technologies in the production of printing
Anagram Press (123) blocks using diverse materials. In his studio babyinktwice,
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Chandler he uses these new, self-made blocks alongside the old in
OLeary is the proprietor of Anagram Press. Her work his designs for commercial posters, flyers, and magazines
includes artists books, illustration, design, textiles, print- for music, architecture, art, and film projects.
making, and drawing. She has taught at the Minnesota babyinktwice.ch
Center for Book Arts, the Seattle Center for Book Arts,
and the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. Her work is Blackbird Letterpress (68)
exhibited and collected internationally. In 2003, Kathryn Hunter started Blackbird Letterpress
anagram-press.com in her friends house in Lafayette, Louisiana. The press
now works out of a mural-clad building in Baton Rouge.
Angel Bomb Press The small shop strives for strong craftsmanship and good
(72, 73, 102, 104, 106, 107, 142, 143, 146) design, and focuses on custom work, stationery, and other
In 1997, after getting fed up with working for other people, printed ephemera. Hunter is a trained printmaker with
Todd Thyberg started Angel Bomb. He bought his first 8x12 a BFA in printmaking from Montana State University,
Chandler & Price and now Angel Bomb has three presses: Bozeman, and an MFA in printmaking from Louisiana State
a Heidelberg Windmill and two Chandler & Prices. They University, Baton Rouge.
print posters, business cards, press kits, promotions, and, blackbirdletterpress.com
of course, lots of custom wedding invitations. Thyberg
appreciates getting away from his computer for a while and
getting his hands dirty printing. Running Angel Bomb is the
best job hes ever had!
angelbomb.com
P.230
Blue Barnhouse Bracket Press (70, 97, 98, 119, 198)
(32, 44, 48, 61, 78, 84, 89, 109, 110, 111, 118, 124, 175, 212, 213) Founded in 2005 by book designer and typesetter
Blue Barnhouse was established in 2002 when Brandon Christian Brett and illustrator Alice Smith, Bracket Press
Mise was volunteering as a press monkey at the San has printed a prolific amount of pamphlets, books, and
Francisco Center for the Book. The press was initially ephemera using both digital and letterpress production
focused on publishing handmade literary journals, but methods, including work by Penny Rimbaud (ex-Crass),
it quickly evolved into a full service custom letterpress Youth (Killing Joke), and posters for Pictures on Walls.
studio. In 2004, the press moved to Asheville, North bracketpress.co.uk
Carolina, and in 2006, they dived into the enterprise of
making greeting cards. Their irreverent humor met with Brightwork Press (18, 21, 22, 23, 196, 197)
astonishing success, and since 2009 their sole focus has Founded in 1993 by author, designer, letterpress printer,
been on the production and distribution of their greeting- movie prop designer, and illustrator Ross MacDonald,
card line, which is sold in hundreds of stores in the US, Brightwork Press prints promotion pieces that serve only
Canada, and the UK. In 2011 Blue Barnhouse relocated to mystify his clients and drive away customers; he also
again to Wilmington, North Carolina, so that the owner uses letterpress to design book covers, display typography,
could go to film school and surf every day. and movie props. As a teenager in the 1970s he worked at
bluebarnhouse.org Coach House Press, and co-founded Dreadnaught Press,
both in Toronto. He left printing behind in the 80s when
Bookworks (216, 217) he moved to New York, but after working for years as a
In 2004, Laurie Corral opened Asheville Bookworks with book and magazine illustrator, he longed for the smell of
the intent of building a public/private space for print type wash. What began as a few fonts of lead type and a
and book arts. It started with a few pieces of equipment Poco press soon threatened to overwhelm his little studio,
and a lease on 2,400 square feet of raw warehouse space. so in 1996 he moved to Newtown, Connecticut, where he
Bookworks continues to grow as a vibrant studio, fostering began stockpiling letterpress equipment in earnest, filling
learning and discourse through classes, exhibits, artists- a small barn to the rafters with obsolete and decrepit
in-residence, and Corrals own love of print and books. gems, including four presses, over 400 fonts of 19th-
ashevillebookworks.com century wood type, and twice that of lead.
ross-macdonald.com
Boxcar Press (25, 133, 159)
Located in a beautiful, hilly, and often snow-covered part Chapel Press (86, 88)
of upstate New York that not many seem to visit, Boxcar Founded in 2003, Chapel Press is a modern Melbourne-
Press is a nationally established commercial letterpress based letterpress print studio filled with design and print
shop. With fifty tons of equipment housed in over 25,000 professionals. Chapel Press has redefined letterpress in
square feet of space, they are one of the largest letterpress Australia, setting a world-class standard with its quality
print and pre-press shops in the country. But they know of work. After 10 years as a specialist letterpress print
its not all about heavy machinerytheyre committed studio, Chapel Press has crafted a reputation as the go-to
to creating the finest handcrafted letterpress printing people for premium letterpress.
in the entire universe and to working hard to lessen the thebeautyofletterpress.com
environmental impact of their business. Boxcar Press is
wind powered via NativeEnergy. Colin Frazer (150, 156, 210, 211)
boxcarpress.com Colin Frazer is an adventurer, artist, designer, and
educator. He holds a BA in physics and received his
MFA from The Rhode Island School of Design. His work
has been shown internationally and is held in many
collections including the Newberry Library, Chicago, the
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. He is a faculty member of the
National Outdoor Leadership School and a critic at RISD.
colinfrazer.com
P.231
Crooked Letter Press (173) District Dogs (45, 138)
Ellen Knudson produces handmade books under the District Dogs is Jarin and Catherine Bossert, who operate
imprint Crooked Letter Press. Knudson has been a book a small letterpress print shop out of their home in North
artist for 12 years and a professional graphic designer for Vancouver, British Columbia. Jarin and Catherine work
more than 20 years, including positions at the Art Institute together in manufacturing by day but come home to their
of Chicago and the Detroit Institute of Arts. She is currently little shop to exercise their passion for drawing, design,
an Associate in Book Arts at the University of Florida; she and print. Their work is inspired by family (the four-
has previously taught letterpress printing at the University legged ones in particular) and friends, the West Coast, and
of Alabama, graphic design at Mississippi State University passions for nature, design, food, and road trips. They are
and at Wayne State University, and letterpress and book slowly building a small line of handmade paper goods that
arts workshops around the country. Her work is in the they sell at local markets and events as well as through
collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Yale Etsy. All their paper goods are cut and printed by hand
University, Connecticut; Duke University, North Carolina; on their more than 100-year-old Chandler & Price cutter
and many other national and international collections. Her and 12x18 platen press. They most love to work with
book Wild Girls Redux: An Operators Manual (2009) was hand-carved linocuts and photopolymer plates, and enjoy
the recipient of the 2009 Florida Artists Book Prize. Her combining old and new techniques to create all sorts of
most recent work is Subject Verb Object (2012), a volvelle remarkable paper goods.
book about the frustration of academic language. districtdogsdesigns.com
crookedletterpress.com
Eleanor Annand (150, 185)
Dandy Lion Press (125, 193) Eleanor Annand grew up on the southern tip of the coast
Founded in 2006 by Maia Karolina de Raat, Dandy Lion of North Carolina. She received her Bachelors of Graphic
Presss slogan is No Clip Art. Located in San Franciscos Design from North Carolina State University, where she
Mission District, the press uses only original pen-and-ink focused on typography and letterpress. After a range of
drawings or linoleum cuts featuring flora and fauna. The design and letterpress experience from IBM to Yee-Haw
pieces are individually printed on two vintage letterpress Industries, and between North Carolina and Colorado,
machines, a Vandercook SP 25, originally used for proofing she landed in the Core Fellowship program at Penland
newspapers, and a Chandler & Price 8x12 platen press School of Crafts. In the Core program Annand investigated
that is more than 100 years old. printed, drawn, carved, and painted lines on paper, metal,
dandylionpress.com and enamel. She is currently located in Asheville, North
Carolina, where she is a founding member of the 7 Ton
David Wolske (153, 160, 161) Letterpress Collective and works as a graphic designer.
David Wolske is an award-winning designer, typographer, eleanorannand.com
and artist currently working as the Designer for the Book
Arts Program at the J. Willard Marriott Library, University ENORMOUSCHAMPION (53, 127)
of Utah. Wolske has taught design, typography, and Started in 2008 by the husband and wife team of Jason
letterpress printing at Indiana University, Herron School Wong and Jordan Provost, enormouschampion makes
of Art and Design, Columbia College Chicagos Center for objects that are pleasing both to the eye and to the hand.
Book and Paper Arts, Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Holding degrees in design, cultural anthropology, and
Museum, and the University of Utah. photography, they hope to add a unique perspective
dwolske.com on items for the home. enormouschampion began as a
stationery line, and has since expanded into various other
Delphine Press (41, 87) hard and soft goods. Based in Brooklyn, they produce
Erika Firms Delphine Press blends a simple, modern custom work in addition to their wholesale line, which is
aesthetic with the centuries-old craft of letterpress available in stores worldwide.
printing to create high-quality stationery products. Using enormouschampion.com
heavy archival, high post-consumer waste content and 100
percent cotton (tree-free) papers, as well as soy-based ink,
Delphine specializes in elegant logos and business cards,
brochures, and packaging.
delphinepress.com
P.232
EVE Press (103, 172, 176, 177, 184) Fly Rabbit Press (134, 165)
In 1983, Elsi Vassdal Ellis established EVE Press. Her first Established in 2010, Fly Rabbit Press is a letterpress
offset edition was published in 1983; first letterpress in powerhouse made up of Chris Charles and her trusty
1990; and first digital in 1996. To date she has produced sidekick, Daisy Dog. Charles is a graphic designer, but
over 70 editions and 100 one-of-a-kind books. Her work originally comes from a fine arts background, having
has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is graduated from Montserrat College of Art in 1991 with a
housed in many public and private collections, including BFA in painting. Shortly after returning to her hometown
the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, of Rochester, New York, Charles stumbled upon letterpress,
DC; New York City and San Francisco Public Libraries; Ruth and, well, the rest is history. Currently, she does the
and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, majority of her printing out of the Genesee Center for Arts
Miami Beach, Florida; Watkinson Library, Trinity College, & Education in Rochester (mostly on a Vandercook No.4),
Hartford, Connecticut; and the Arts of the Book collection while she slowly sets up her home studio, which includes
at Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut. She a Vandercook 325G.
teaches design production and book arts at Western flyingrabbitpress.com
Washington University, Bellingham.
Fugu Fugu Press (51, 55, 56)
FameorShame PRESS (99) Founded in 2008, Fugu Fugu Press is a small letterpress
Paul Moxon prints limited-edition books and broadsides printing company in Pasadena, California, run by husband-
under the name Fameorshame Press and produces work and-wife team Ken and Shino Charlson. She is a freelance
for hire under the name Think Letterpress. A graduate illustrator whose work has appeared in many publications,
of the University of Alabama MFA Book Arts Program, he including the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and Time
teaches at book arts centers and universities throughout magazine. He is a piano teacher who has also edited music
the United States. Moxon is well known for his Vandercook for films and network television shows, and has played
Maintenance workshops, and for providing guidance and in a nationally touring band. They had always wanted to
research through his website and blog. start a business together, and, while learning the ropes
thinkletterpress.com at another letterpress card company, Shino fell in love
with the process. With Kens fascination for operating big
Flatbed Splendor (168, 183) machinery and their mutual interest in all things old and
Bridget Elmer lives in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is funky, it was just a matter of time before they picked up
rebuilding her platen press, tuning up her 1966 flatbed a Heidelberg and a Chandler & Price and started putting
truck, and retrofitting open-source philosophy to book their own line together.
technologies.Elmer studied bookbinding, letterpress fugufugupress.com
printing, and printmaking at the Cooper Union, Center for
Book Arts,Penland School of Crafts, Asheville Bookworks, Genghis Kern (26, 36)
and the University of Alabama. Elmer recently co-founded Genghis Kern is a Denver-based letterpress and design
with Emily Larned Impractical Labor in Service of the shop that strives to keep the art of letterpress alive. They
Speculative Arts (ILSSA), an organization for those who instill the personality of the client in each piece, whether it
make experimental or conceptual work with obsolete is opening a new business, rebranding an existing one, or
technology. Their slogan: As many hours as it takes! celebrating a wedding or birth. Grounded with over twenty
flatbedsplendor.com | impractical-labor.org years of graphic design experience, their promise is to take
your idea and make it a reality that you can cherish forever
(or until your next great idea comes around).
genghiskern.com
P.233
Greenwich Letterpress (43) Igloo Press (38, 96, 169)
Started in 2006 by sisters Amy Swanson and Beth Igloo is a small but mighty letterpress and bookbinding
Salvini, Greenwich Letterpress is a letterpress studio and studio, retail shop, and commercial printer in central
stationery gift shop located in the heart of New York City's Ohio. Igloos roots are steeped in history, and they are
West Village. They specialize in wedding invitations, birth passionate about using their extensive collection of wood
announcements, and stationery, and have their own line of and metal type and beautiful vintage image cuts. As a
greeting cards.Their work has been featured in numerous modern letterpress printer, Igloo thrives on pushing the
publications, including Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue, envelope and experimenting with the best of digital and
and Taschens New York. analog techniques. To visit Igloos studio is not only to
greenwichletterpress.com receive an education in the 600-year history of printing,
but also to get a glimpse of where it is going and why it is
Hammerpress (42, 49, 50, 207) an always changing, vibrant, and exciting craft.
Started in 1994 by Brady Vest, Hammerpress is a iglooletterpress.com
letterpress and design studio based in Kansas City,
Missouri. Over the last 15 years it has grown to include Incline Press (27)
several employees, multiple presses, and a lot of type. Graham Moss has been printing as Incline Press since
They like to make beautiful things. 1993. He has published over 60 books as well as
hammerpress.net pamphlets, ephemera, and the occasional business card.
Perhaps because he trained as a historian at the University
Hand-cranked LETTERPRESS (108, 202, 203, 204, 215) of Manchester and taught high-school history, Mosss
In the lively little Blue Ridge Mountain town of Asheville, interest in letterpress printing and design stretches
North Carolina, Hand-Cranked Letterpress was born in the beyond the practical to the academic. His books have twice
basement of a music venue, with a handful of metal type and won Fine Press Book Association Judges Choice awards
a flatbed press. Inspired by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress (for The Book Decorations of Thomas Lowinsky and Art for
in nearby Knoxville, Tennessee, founders Lance Wille, Life). He lectures and teaches letterpress classes as well as
Suzie Millions, and Jason Krekel spent a decade making printing, binding, and publishing texts that have captured
art for events, festivals, and bands, eventually moving to his interest.
an expansive back-alley warehouse where they hosted inclinepress.com
under-the-radar punk rock shows, legendary parties and
touring-band sleepovers, and housed a vast collection of Independent Project Press (76, 80, 81)
ephemera and oddities. In 2010, Wille and Millions closed Independent Project Press was founded in 1982 by
the studio and they are currently secretly operating from musician, artist, and designer Bruce Licher after he
the patio of a tiki speakeasy in Asheville's Haw Creek. learned the art of letterpress printing at the Womens
handcrankedletterpress.com Graphic Center in downtown Los Angeles in 1982. In
addition to packaging and releasing music on his own
Hi-Artz PRESS (223) record label (Independent Project Records), he has
Born in Birmingham, England, Helen Ingham has always worked for clients ranging from R.E.M. to Harold Budd
had an interest in American folk music. In the 1980s, to Stereolab. Independent Project Press also produces
she began designing posters for her gigs as a rockabilly elegant and creative business stationery, invitations,
performer. She developed an interest in typography wine labels, promotional stamp sheets and booklets,
and composition, and letterpress seemed a natural and numerous other pieces of ephemera. Licher was
progression. In 2002, Ingham adopted the moniker nominated twice for a Grammy Award for his album
Hi-Artz Press, and in 2004, she was accepted into an packaging. His graphic design and letterpress work has
MA program in Communication Design at Londons been featured in two major design exhibitions at the
Central St Martins College of Art & Design. She currently Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York
works as a freelance designer and illustrator in Luton and City, and has also been exhibited in California, Arizona,
lectures on graphic design and letterpress in London and and Paris, France. After 17 years living and working in
Windsor. Represented by TAG Fine Arts in London, she has Sedona, Arizona, Licher and his artist wife, Karen, have
exhibited internationally and received commissions for relocated Independent Project Press to the Eastern
editorial illustrations as well as public art projects. Sierra town of Bishop, California.
hi-artz.co.uk independentprojectpress.com
P.234
Inky Lips LETTERPress (28, 112) KeeganMeegan & Co. (205)
In 2001, Casey McGarr of McKinney, Texas, founded Inky Co-founded in 2007 by Katy Meegan and Keegan Wenkman,
Lips Letterpress. The press designs and prints posters, KeeganMeegan & Co. of Portland, Oregon, specializes in
invitations, and stationery on four presses: a Heidelberg hand-illustrated letterpress work. By combining Meegans
Windmill and three Vandercooks. The studio also teaches and Wenkmans knowledge of design, illustration, and
letterpress workshops and has created the educational letterpress, the studio works to print beautifully, use
YouTube video Letterpress and linoleum carving. the best materials, and support and inspire the local
McGarr has practiced graphic design for 20 years and through to the global community. KeeganMeegan loves the
is pursuing an MFA in Graphic Design at Texas A&M tradition of letterpress, for its reliability, sustainability,
UniversityCommerce at the UCD, where he is also an simplicity, and tactile feel. Seeing what the best printing
adjunct professor of typography and graphic design. can do, in this modern world of immediate gratification
inkylipspress.com and cheap production values, KeeganMeegan printing is
a throw-back to a time when quality and beauty were a
Jeremy Luther (199) necessity in everyday life.
Jeremy Luther is a freelance illustrator, letterpress keeganmeeganco.com
printmaker, and designer based in Oslo, Norway. Originally
from Kansas City, Luther received his Bachelors Degree Krystan Bruce (194)
in Printmaking and Art History from the Kansas City Art San Antonio, Texas, Johnny Appleseed Day, 1992: Krystan
Institute in 2007. He loves to draw, filling sketchbooks Bruce dips half an apple in red paint and stamps it on
faster than he can afford to buy new ones, and enjoys construction paper. It looks like a blobby pig, and it isnt
taking on everything from album covers to posters, fine that fun. Denver, Colorado, winter 2006: Bruce and friends
art prints, and portraiture. cut out cardboard and stencil bomb an ear the size of an
jeremyluther.com eight-year-old here and there. Its pretty fun. They produce
a literary and art magazine; their prints of saints appear
Jessica C. white (120, 126) in Evan Howards Introduction to Christian Spirituality.
Jessica C. White is a printmaker, book artist, and paper- Asheville, North Carolina, summer 2009: As an apprentice
maker specializing in relief prints and editioned artists at Blue Barnhouse, Bruce shakes hands with her first
books under her imprints Heroes & Criminals Press and press; using a linoleum block that was a gift from the
Little Phoenix Letterpress. She currently has a studio blessed Sally Barto, she prints "Icehouse," an experiment
in Asheville, North Carolina, where she also teaches at in color printed on paper found in a flooded basement.
Warren Wilson College, Western Carolina University,
and runs workshops at Asheville Bookworks. Her most Lady Pilot Letterpress (34, 62, 69)
recent publication is Letterpress Now: A DIY Guide to New Emily Nicole Wismer loves getting dirty, the smell of ink,
and Old Printing Methods, published by Lark Crafts, and lifting heavy things, and working on machinery that may
her work is featured in public collections including Yale cause tremendous physical harm.Luckily, she has found an
University, Stanford University, Lingnan University Hong art form that fits the bill.She has destroyed more presses
Kong, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. than most people have ever seen, but her 8x12 Chandler &
heroesandcriminalspress.com Price is doing fine.She and Amelia Earhart print for Lady
Pilot Letterpress in a hidden basement guarded by the
vicious and crafty one-horned Japanese goldfish.
ladypilotletterpress.com
P.235
Lead Graffiti (79, 186, 206) Mink Letterpress (66, 116)
Ray Nichols and his wife,Jill Cypher, co-founded Raven Mink Letterpress is a design and letterpress printing
Press at the University of Delaware, where he taught for 32 studio located in Asheville, North Carolina, specializing
years.In 2008, the Art Directors Club of New York awarded in custom wedding invitations and event announcements.
Nichols the title of Grandmaster (given to those whose Nicole Lissenden is the owner and creative director of the
careers in creative education have impacted generations shop, designing in house and printing on a 1918 10x15
of student creatives and whose legacy is a far-reaching Chandler & Price and 1886 Golding Jobber No. 6. Mink
network of industry leaders). Through Lead Graffiti, loves playing with where old meets new, and honoring the
which they maintain as a working museum with iron past while pushing toward the future.
hand-presses, Vandercooks, and an Intertype C4, Nichols minkletterpress.com
and Cypher offer a variety of workshops and produce
imaginative applications of the letterpress process. NewLights Press (170, 171, 189)
leadgraffiti.com In 2000, Aaron Cohick founded NewLights Press in
Baltimore, Maryland, an independent publisher of
Lizard Press (105) experimental literature and artists books. Now it operates
Melissa Kaup-Augustinewas born in Potsdam, New York, in Oakland, California. The idea is to make books, to make
and studied graphic arts, publishing, and typography making books count.
at RIT in Rochester. She has spent the last twenty years newlightspress.blogspot.com
as a commercial graphic designer as well as teaching
typography, graphic design, and book design in college Oddball Press (52, 57, 67, 135)
and beyond. In 2006, Kaup-Augustine opened Lizard Press In 2007, Kati Hanimagi founded Oddball Press in Cleveland,
Letterpress in San Francisco. By combining vintage wood Ohio. Oddball embraces both letterpress printing and
and lead typefaces with digital designs transferred onto modern design to create a variety of contemporary
polymer plates, she prints limited-edition artists books, greetings and printed goods. Hanimagi earned her BFA at
broadsides, and ephemera on a Vandercook proof press. the Atlanta College of Art, where she studied printmaking,
Lizard Presss award-winning artists books and broadsides and went on to complete her MFA at the School of the Art
have been exhibited internationally. Institute of Chicago.
lizardpress.com oddballpress.com

Matthew Kelsey (157) Paper Monkey Press (71, 85, 188)


Matthew Kelsey, Printer, is the letterpress workshop In 2000, in Oakland, California, Rori Zendek founded Paper
operated since 2006 by Matt Kelsey in Saratoga, California, Monkey Press and Design, a small letterpress and design
printing business cards, invitations, stationery, and more studio. Marty Zendek joined the studio in 2005, after it
on a century-old Challenge-Gordon platen press, as well as moved to its current location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
a Challenge MP-15 proof press. Kelsey has been printing Paper Monkey Press specializes in designing and printing
since 1973, and worked for several years at San Franciscos custom projects, from the smallest run of calling cards or
renowned Arion Press, which produces limited-edition art prints, to full business systems or wedding sets. All
books. Most of his printing is done from photopolymer letterpress projects are printed on the studios Chandler &
plates, but he also prints from metal and wood type for Price press named Bessiewho has been doing excellent
personal projects under the Camino Press imprint. Matt work for almost a century. Marty studied Graphic Design
teaches letterpress classes for the San Jose Printers Guild at Penn State and spent years mixing inks and screen-
at History Park in San Jose, and is a member of the Moxon printing before joining Paper Monkey. Rori studied
Chappel, a group of private presses in the San Francisco printmaking at CCA and worked with several graphic
Bay Area founded by J. Ben Lieberman in the 1950s. design firms and was a prolific painter before opening
mkprinter.com Paper Monkey Press.
papermonkeypress.com
P.236
Pepper Press (63, 140) Philip Bell (158)
Pepper Press is a design and letterpress studio in Brooklyn, Philip Bell is an Asheville, North Carolina-based graphic
New York, founded by Ursula Jaroszewicz, a graphic designer, paper engineer, and art director whose best work
designer who fell in love with the hands-on printing sprouts from obsessive experimentation. Most days, you
process. Her work is a little bit urban and a little bit can find him ogling type cases, smelling paper, and glitching
outdoors, inspired by old maps, topography, typography, code. He tirelessly draws nebular clusters of random objects
history, her environs (the city), nature (she is also an while drinking coffee and beer, at the same time.
avid outdoors adventurer), biking, and patterns. Great
attention is paid to every detail, including the coveted Power AND Light Press (33, 37, 147)
impression and texture that is achieved with letterpress Power and Light Press grew out of a love of paper, lines,
printing, which Jaroszewicz incorporates into her designs. history, overheard conversations, logs, whiskey, the
The studio strives to be gentle on the environment, by color brown, the Wild West, dogs, salt water, vintage
using eco-friendly paper (made from cotton garment office supplies, and beards, among other things. After
scrapsbut you'd never know itit feels that luxurious!), apprenticing at Blue Barnhouse and Wolfe Editions,
recycled envelopes, biodegradable packaging made from proprietor Kyle Durrie moved back to Portland, Oregon, in
plants not plastic, and re-using paper scraps for small late 2008 to set up a shop of her own, and Power and Light
projects, like tags. Press was born.
pepperpress.com powerandlightpress.com

Peter Koch Printers (141) Press New York (74, 90, 190, 222)
Since 1974, Peter Koch Printers has been designing and Press New York is a letterpress and design studio in
printing books and ephemera. Beginning a career in New York City founded and run by Tim Chapman and
Missoula, Montana, Peter Koch started with one platen Sloane Madureira.
press. He since settled in the San Francisco Bay area and, pressnewyork.com
following the San Francisco literary tradition of fine press
printing, has acquired an international reputation and Rar Rar Press (35, 224, 225)
several more presses. His clients and collectors range Rebecca Ann Rakstad took her first letterpress class in
from major international research libraries to bibliophilic 2004, and Rar Rar Press was born shortly thereafter.
organizations, private collectors, and publishers. Between Rakstad received her BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago
commissions, his firm designs, prints, and publishes limited and her MFA from Columbia College, Chicago. The works
editions of ancient Greek philosophy, musings of maverick of Rar Rar Press have appeared in indie craft fairs all over
poets, and images of world-renowned wood engravers and the country, including Renegade, Bust Craftacular, Crafty
photographers. Editions Koch specializes in publishing Bastards, and Art vs. Craft. Rakstad is a member of the
limited-edition artists books, broadsides, portfolios, and Chicago Printers Guild, and in 2011, Rar Rar moved into a
text transmission objects. new location in Pilsen that will soon host workshops and
peterkochprinters.com events, so everyone can learn how to make their own book.
rarrarpress.etsy.com
Petre Designs (174)
Petre Spassov is an art director, typographer, illustrator,
and design consultant based in Orange County, California.
He specializes in typographic communication, digital
illustration, lettering, and font creation. He is primarily
focused on small business branding and lettering, as well
as print media, web design, and identity development.
His work has been showcased by organizations and
publications, including HOW magazine, Creative Quarterly,
Hermes Creative awards, and the AIGA OC Design Awards.
petresdesigns.com
P.237
Richard Kegler (75, 152) Southern Pest Prints (40)
Richard Kegler is the founder and lead designer at P22 In 2009, Sara White started Southern Pest Prints when
type foundry. Before his involvement in type design, Kegler she began creating linoleum-cut and letterpress stationery
was a bookbinder, designer, postgraduate (with a Masters inspired by the not-always-charming wildlife of New
degree in Media Study), and artist seeking a respectable Orleans, Louisiana. Her first set of cards included hand-
self-sustaining life as a hand-craftsman. He has recently printed mosquitos, cats claw vines, palmetto bugs,
founded the non-profit WNY Book Arts Center in Buffalo, nutria, and stinging buck moths. White received a BFA in
New York, and has returned to an active involvement in printmaking and mixed-media art at Loyola University,
hand printing and binding as a concurrent pursuit along New Orleans, in 2007. She apprenticed at Blue Barnhouse
with digital font research at P22. in 2010. She moved back to New Orleans to work with
wnybookarts.org Fitzgerald Letterpress, where she designs and prints
custom wedding invitations, cards, and other paper goods.
THE Scarlet Letter Press (122) In addition to printmaking, White performs puppetry
Doug Wilson is a designer, printer, and university and teaches linoleum cut workshops and elementary art in
instructor who, like most people in this book, has a New Orleans.
passion for letterpress. Born and raised in the Midwest, southernpestprints.etsy.com
he has travel in his blood and has been fortunate to visit
five continents. Doug received a BFA in Graphic Design SPARK LETTERPRESS (221)
from Missouri State University, spent a summer printing Spark is a family-owned and operated business based in
in Geneva, Switzerland, and attended a type-design Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Spark was started by designers
workshop at the Basel School of Design. The Scarlet Letter Valerie Carlson and Jim Watne, officially launching at the
Press, established in 2005, is his private press where he 2005 National Stationery show. They displayed their
prints mostly posters and broadsides. He currently lives first custom stationery album of letterpress wedding
in Springfield, Missouri, with his wife and a Vandercook suites printed on a Chandler & Price 10x15 new
SP-20 Proof Press. series, and it met with great success. After the launch
scarletletterpress.com of the initial album, they moved the business from
Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
Shooting Star Press (19, 24) so they could expand their operation with the help of
John Horn has been a printer for 45 years. He operates his family. Spark now sell to 120 retailers internationally
private press, Shooting Star Press, in Little Rock, Arkansas. and have built up their commercial printing services.
As well as printing, he teaches traditional letterpress They are fortunate enough to partner with some of the
printing in his shop, at Penland School of Crafts, and at best designers and agencies around to produce award-
various universities. winning and published work. Sparks print and design
work has been featured in national magazines and
Snow Owl (47, 58, 139) numerous online media.
Nieves Uhl worked as a designer and printer at the historic letterpresslove.com
Hatch Show Print for almost five years. She now runs
Sawtooth Printhouse with fellow printmaker Christopher
Cheney in Nashville, Tennessee.
etsy.com/people/snowowl
P.238
Studio 204 (144, 145, 162, 163) Suzanne VilmaIn (182)
In 2008, after much joyous collecting, rescuing, and Suzanne Vilmain, the oldest of eight siblings, was born
resurrecting of vintage letterpress equipment, Virgil and raised in Iowa. She was taught cursive in the fourth
Scott and Kim Neiman opened Studio 204 in Arlington, grade by nuns and typewriting as a career enhancement
Texas. Using a 1949 Vandercook flat-bed letterpress, an in high school (and her college experiene, in the late
1897 Chandler & Price platen press and a 1960s Charles 1960s, was motivational in its own way). She has taught
Brand etching press, they design and print limited-edition both junior high students and dropouts in Los Alamos,
posters, cards, books, and everything else. Their work New Mexico. She worked at a type house in Santa Fe,
utilizes vintage wood type, metal type and hand-carved started working in graphic design when the first Mac
linoleum block images to create custom projects for came out, and, thirty years later, is making letterpress
commercial clients, public gallery exhibitions, and retail. artists books.
Studio 204s letterpress work was recently included in counting-coup-press.blogspot.com
The Little Book of Letterpress, published by Chronicle
Books, and the 2011 Communication Arts Typography Tiny Pine Press (54)
Annual. Both Kim and Virgil teach in the Visual In 2003, designer Jennifer Parsons started Tiny Pine Press;
Communication program at Texas A&M University, in 2005, she learned to print in Secret Letterpress Class
Commerce, Dallas campus. with artist and printer Joel Larson. Her work is rooted in
204studio.com her upbringing in the mountains of rural Appalachia. She
is the daughter of a factory seamstress and has enjoyed a
Studio on Fire lifelong love of paper-based craftsmanship. She prints on
(94, 130, 132, 136, 137, 151, 180, 181) a Chandler & Price Pilot Press named Verdie, working full-
In 1999, Ben Levitz began something that resembled time designing, printing, stitching, and running the show
letterpress work. From an obsession with a mysterious in her Los Angeles-based studio.
machine that occupied a spot in the basement between tinypinepress.com
the boiler and the litter box, fast forward ten years to a
bustling design and print studio consistently producing Tipozero (191)
national award-winning work. Studio On Fire has grown After 20 years of graphic design behind a screen and 16
by embracing two principles: design and craft. Making years of teaching design and typography, Peter De Roy
stuff that people actually want and doing it with love and returned to his old passion: making tactile print with
an expert eye toward detail is what the studio is all about. ink and presses. He set up a studio amidst a professional
studioonfire.com | beastpieces.com print shop in the heart of Brussels, where his Heidelberg
Windmill from 1950 stands bravely next to a modern
Stumptown Printers (77, 91) five-colour Heidelberg offset. Tipozero prints self-
Founded in 1999 by Brian Bagdonas, Eric Bagdonas, initiated work as well as jobbing for fellow designers. The
and Rebecca Gilbert, Stumptown Printers is a workfloor is shared recently with risograph printers, and
cooperatively owned and operated print shop located they do workshops for schools and social organizations.
in Portland, Oregon. It specializes in printing and Invitations, pamphlets, book covers, letterhead, posters,
manufacturing unique music packaging, produced labelsTipozero produces printed matter with touch and
utilizingenvironmentally responsible letterpress and texture. In small series and special projects, they try to
offset methods such as low-impact pressroom supplies, minimize the span between concept and realization. The
alcohol-free dampening, vegetable-based ink, recycled workshop welcomes experimentation and collaboration
paper, and cargo bicycle deliveries. with designers and artists.
stumptownprinters.com tipozero.com
P.239
Trade Union Press (20, 95, 208, 209) Two Tone Press (131, 214)
In 1995, Craig Malmrose, a professor in graphic design A Kansas City print shop, Two Tone Press consists of two
at East Carolina University, founded the Trade Union spunky sisters, one with a background in art and the other
Press. Since that time, he has acquired six Vandercook a background in business. Their aesthetic features bold
presses, an 1895 Chandler & Price, and a variety of lesser- illustrations layered upon a variety of patterns. They use
known brands of different sizes and vintages. The Press this style to create all manner of printed products from
maintains an archive of over 900 cases of foundry type invitations and cards to posters and fine art prints. They
and approximately 125 cases of wood type. Malmrose aspire to innovate beyond the traditional look commonly
has produced thousands of posters, along with books, found in letterpress printing through the use of hand-
cards, brochures, stationery, and numerous collateral carved elements, bright colors, and such unconventional
letterpress designs. This work has been honored locally, materials as textured wallpaper, fabrics, and found
regionally, and nationally by the American Advertising objects. These surfaces create a rich backdrop for every
Federation, Print, The Big Book of Ideas: #3, Graphic piece individually crafted by the studio.
Design USA, the 37th Annual Creativity Awards, and This twotonepress.yolasite.com
is Good Design:2. Malmrose teaches a course in letterpress
printing at East Carolina University. Zeichen Press (39)
tradeunionpress.com Zeichen Press is Fran Shea, Jen Shea, and 10,000 pounds
of letterpress equipment. The division of labor goes
Tryckkammaren (29, 154) something like this: Fran talks a lot and Jen does everything
Tryckkammaren (the pressure chamber) is a print else. (If you call them, Jen will pick up the phone and Fran
shop and a studio, owned and run by Gta Frideborg will talk to you.) The message is fresh, funny, offbeat, and
Svensson since 1986. Focus has changed over the years: refreshingly honest. The design is bold and smart. The
artists books, poetry, fine arts printmaking. Today method is letterpress. VERY old-school. Think chamber
Tryckkammaren is run as a full-time business, giving pots and blood-letting; think flogging-in-the-town-square;
workshops, printing paper bags, poetry, posters, and think wanted posters and Bibles: so grim, so serious.
beautiful books, making FP-plates for other printshops, Now stop thinking about that. Zeichen Press has brought
printing whatever needs to be printed. Just like that. letterpress and humor togetherat last! Fran and Jen
tryckkammaren.com would like to give all the credit to indoor plumbing.
zeichenpress.com
Twig & Fig (46, 117, 121, 187)
In 2003, Twig & Fig sprouted boldly in Berkeley, California. Zephyrus Image (100, 101, 113)
It all started when Suzie McKig and Serge Vigeant longed The linocuts by Zephyrus Image, San Francisco, were
to reassert their passion for design. Prior to their printed by Michael Myers in the 1960s and 1970s on a
marriage (work and life), McKig (Twig) had completed Vandercook Uni I. These prints were photographed from
her studies at Art Center College of Design, then launched the collection of Daniel Morris.
her own graphic design firm in Los Angeles, focusing on
entertainment, fashion, cosmetic, and boutique perfumery
clients. All the while, Vigeant (Fig) headed a vigorously
active product design company in Montreal. Fate brought
them to the Bay Area for a more inspiring setting. They
bought their first letterpress machine. Romance drove his
presses and fueled her designs.
twigandfig.com
P.240

You might also like