Writer Katherine Rosman, reporter of today’s lead story in the Personal Journal section, titled her piece “Stationery’s New Followers: Why the Tweeting crowd sends a lot of letters ….” She asserts that “Much of the recent small stationery resurgence has taken place in letterpress printing.” Our sentiments exactly. Rosman backs up her thesis with evidence of the letterpress renaissance from San Francisco to Syracuse, from New York to North Carolina — and we are delighted to see so many Felt & Wire friends in her feature.
Kiss and Punch Designs, a Felt & Wire shopkeeper, produced this letterpress printed “relationship card,” mimicking a Facebook screen. See founder Julie’s personal mantra here.
Gilah Press, also a Felt & Wire shopkeeper, produces its letterpress work, such as these “Two cents” cards, on Chandler & Price platen presses in Baltimore, Maryland.
Rosman cites the proliferation of letterpress printing workshops at the San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB). As it happens, earlier this week two Felt & Wire guest contributors wrote independently about the center as a community resource: a printer (and interactive designer by day) who uses the print shop as her studio, and an SFCB staffer who summoned a volunteer party to hand-fold the center’s newest catalog. (SFCB co-founder Mary Austin was profiled here this past spring.)
Felt & Wire is a long-time supporter of the Ladies of Letterpress. We most recently covered the keynote address by Judith Berliner at the conference in Asheville, N.C.
Rosman also points to Boxcar Press’ business niche as an indicator of letterpress growth. In addition to printing, Boxcar makes printing plates for other letterpress shops. See our video interview on the rebirth of letterpress with Boxcar founder Howard Kyle.
You can read Rosman’s story here. Or, better yet, paperlovers, run out and snag yourself a copy. It’s not every day that elegant stationery makes front page news — and today, it’s on two of them. [AK]
