Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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Printed in China
P.6 INTRODUCTION
01
P.82 BUSINESS
05
P.92 POLITICS
06
P.114 ANIMALIA
07
P.148 TYPOGRAPHY
09
P.226 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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.
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.
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
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