(formula) Guzzi + Burrata mozzarella = Happiness

I am coming up on a year of my adventure in letterpress which meant finding a press, materials, a guru and tons of hours (giving up my summer holiday) to learn how to PRINT (not talking the digital kind either). I think inspiration came twofold when my home printer just wouldn’t (couldn’t) render my designs to their full capacity, and when I couldn’t (but tried) to get a short offset run of my thesis from a local printer. In the end a kind service bureau printed it up on a laser printer with a cloth cover.

In Italy, the best design is pushed to its full and sensory extremes. Let’s take for example the designs of Moto Guzzi and Ducati motorbikes or, (needless to mention) a Ferrari at once in the rear view mirror on the costal highway zoom by or the vintage Fiat 500 creeping up along side you from the opposite direction at 50 kph is a delight. And of course food...cut into a mozzarella burrata is just as good as biting into it. It is design thought through at every point of intersection. The best experiences I think are ones that cultivate happiness and strive to engage all life affirming senses.

So, fast forward one year and I’m having my first photopolymer experience: a wedding invitation which is essentially a two color image of bride and groom embracing, id est registration heaven. This design only revealed its full capacity after all the components had been put together i.e. setting up my form, mixing up paint, pressing into that lovely Magnani paper and set to dry. The design experience made whole...

metal plates: bride&groom and sage wreath

photos of finished product. paper is ivory in fact.