Living Creatively

So what is letterpress? Letterpress printing is the age-old process of printing from a raised inked surface, used mostly on fine stationery, invitations and limited-edition books. Its strengths are crisp lines, patterns and other graphics and typography. It harks back to the 1400s when Johannes Gutenberg [and others] invented movable and reusable type printing set in a frame.

With modern printing technologies, however, letterpress became uncommon in the twentieth century. It has enjoyed a resurgence since the 1990s, however, particularly in the US, with small commercial presses and artists rediscovering the craft. The letterpress work of American artist Dirk Fowler of F2 Design is a standout. His letterpress poster of Gutenberg is a significant example of his work. Another artistic letterpress label is Washington's Beautiful Angle, which continues to introduce letterpress to a new generation, as do the various US colleges and universities that now teach it.

The vogue for letterpress in the US fired the imaginations of Sam and Russell Fray, who own Brighton-based Chapel Press, one of Melbourne's few letterpress printers. Chapel Press caters mainly to bridal couples - thus the name - but it also has an extensive range of other letterpress stationery.

"People love it because it isn't an email, it goes back to more personal correspondence," says Sam. Letterpress is very tactile, it feels great. People love to come in and feel it. Russell will do a print-run and the first thing we do is run our fingers all over it. Everything we do we consider to be a work of art. So much effort goes into it. Every sheet that comes out is perfect, as good as it can be. It doesn't compare to mass-produced printing."

The business had its genesis in the couple's own wedding five years ago. Sam, a graphic designer, and Russell, in the printing business, needed a wedding invitation with the wow factor. Going through magazines and seeing stunning US letterpress, Sam began investigating letterpress in Melbourne but came up empty-handed.

"It eventually became something we thought we would like to do," says Russell. "We bought a 100-year-old Chandler & Price letterpress machine, sight unseen, at an auction of farm machinery and were told to pick it up. It was in the middle of nowhere, past Horsham, and it was twice as big as we thought it would be. On the drive back we went through these little country towns and people would stop what they were doing and stare.

"We got it home and turned it on and broke six pieces, the rollers were mangled. It was an interesting beginning. It took us about a year to get up to speed. It didn't come with an instruction manual, we had to teach ourselves. It's all about getting a crisp image, getting the right balance between ink and pressure for the best result. It's very technical, it's getting to know the machine, it's quirks, so you can get the best out of it."

These days they have several letterpress machines, and use them for spare parts, "but we still use the original machine we bought. We call it the green beast. We feed each sheet of paper in by hand so there's quite a big labour component ... a lot of elbow grease."

Letterpress is more than just a living for the pair; it's their passion. "We like the fact we're doing something different, unique, something nobody else is," Russell says. "We take pride in what we do and it's exciting to create new things. And we love that we are saving an old skill - it's great to know we're bringing something from the ark and rejuvenating it and making something of it. A lot of graphic designers are interested in letterpress because there's a bit of mystique around it, it's a bit old and a bit different."

The Chapel Press letterpress range, created by the Frays and three designers, includes about 100 items - sold through 75 retailers - and every six months it releases more products. Only one hundred per cent cotton fibre paper is used. The paper is archive quality and will last a lifetime out of sunlight, which goes towards explaining why letterpress isn't cheap. A customised, handmade wedding pack, which includes everything from invitations to maps, can cost up to $2,000. But the average cost of a wedding these days is $30,000, including $10,000 for a dress, so it's all relative, says Sam.

"Wedding invitations are our biggest component - we do more than two hundred a year, but we're still evolving and growing, experimenting with our style, and personalised stationery is growing, too. People appreciate the paper and the handwritten word."

Chapel Press is so well regarded in the wedding business in fact, that they get a lot of brides from Perth and Sydney coming to see them. "They come to Melbourne to check out the couture dresses, then they come to us. Brides are often too overwhelmed to come up with their own ideas so we come up with designs that will reflect them and their weddings. Letterpress sets the tone. Quite often invited guests don't send back their RSVP cards because they don't want to part with them."

PS: When it's time to choose wedding bands, you might want to check out rings with raised letters.

Metal and enamel keys from old manual typewriters and letterpress machines are the latest materials to be recycled. US company What's Your Type make jewellery using old typewriter keys and prices start at $82. In New Zealand, the d-luxe label offers antique letterpress pieces dipped in silver and gold, from $88. And in the UK, the reverse-type rings from Ring Leader, priced at about $1100, even come with an ink pad so you can print the words that circles your ring on a card ... or a wrist.

By Carolyn Ford