Papê :: A Pre-Cool Stationery Shop and Lab

We spent Sunday afternoon in Genova to visit friends Nora and Marco - aka Manolab. Nora has just ventured into opening Papê, a boutique stationery shop in Genova. It’s no ordinary card shop and showcases some fun & unique graphic design pieces as well as screen printed t-shirts and children's art books. I picked up the one and only children’s book illustrated by Saul Bass...

NORA & MARCO

PAPER FLOWER BOUQUET TO SEND VIA POST

Letterpress Studio Visit: Resurgence of Letterpress in Italy

I was contacted for an interview by thesis graphic design student at the Polytech of Turin University, Alessandra, about letterpress. She and her boyfriend, Lorenzo, popped in Friday for a studio visit. We first chatted about her thesis paper; her topic explores the resurgence of manual printing in Italy. I then introduced her to some of my metal and wood type and presses. I had some time to put together a wooden composition on the proof press which she got to ink and print! Good luck to her her and her studies.

LORENZO LOVES ALESSANDRA - ONE COLOR PROOF PRINT TO TAKE AWAY

Italian Independent Printers

This room was where we had our letterpress laboratory at the Museum of Printing. It’s the Amici di Piazza Cultural Arts Association space lent to us to demonstrate mostly letterpress poster design.
Greatest part was coming together with others that are a part of this growing Italian independent printing movement.

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The Letterpress Workers Project/Event :: Work

This month I was at a closing of a letterpress poster event themed “Work”. It was hosted by 9punti, a group of nine designers come together to explore the art of letterpress. The event was staged at Archivio Giovanni Sachhi, a living museum where fantastic wooden models are archived made by Giovanni Sachhi for famed Italian designers as Aldo Rossi and Ettore Sottsass.

Giovanni Sacchi workshop & wooden model for Campari

I had the opportunity to contribute a poster to "The Letterpress Workers" event along with other Italian  printers. I approached the concept of work like play. Both work and play entail rules to follow and objectives to obtain. My inspiration was Flemish Renaissance painter, Pieter Bruegel’s "Young Folk at Play”. The imagination of young people at play borders the seriousness of work, but the key is the sense of passion and joy revealed in the act of play. My paper choice was packing paper to connote the functional and durable.
IT: Concetto: Lettering per interpretare il Lavoro come Gioco. Ci sono delle regole ed obiettivi. Il lavoro visto in termine di gioco, lavora sodo attraverso l’immaginazione per creare soluzioni creative per raggiungere l’obiettivo.

Scelta di Carte: Carta di imballaggio per connotare il funzionale e durevole

More photos on my Flickr page

My contribution along with Italian printers "Hard Work at Play, Play Hard at Work, Work Hard at Play”

This is not a Taco Truck :: Kyle Durrie

It could happenstance you see this letterpress show on wheels in your town. I had heard about Kyle Durrie’s mint cross-country Kickstarter project (which twice met it’s goal of raising at least $8,000), and was intrigued. While visiting Flatbed Press and a series of prints Austin’s very own musician/artist, Bob Schneider had done, Kyle’s used delivery truck was conveniently sitting outside in the parking lot.

Inside Kyle Durrie’s studio on wheels

Lino’s print with Kyle

From top left: inside Flatbed Press, outside Flatbed Press and Kyle’s truck,

sample prints she’s done on the road