Letterpress printing

I have been looking into an old form of printing called letterpress. This is a form of relief printing of text and image using a press with a “type-high bed” printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image. Dating back to the mid 15th century it slowly lost favour in the second half of the 20th century.

letterpressexample0

Image from Sunlit Letterpress

There is a slow revival for this form of printing, especially in the US, and specificially for weddings and formal invitations.

I think it is just beautiful, it’s just so classy and a real tactile form of design. There are a few specialists printers still knocking around in the UK, but it is a bit of a dying artform, which is a real shame. I would love to design something for this medium and have been toying with an idea for a calendar – so watch this space!

Tags: No tags

One Response

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *