Letterpress

When trawling google, researching for our upcoming letterpress workshop, I found some good examples of contemporary designers employing the centuries-old craft in their work. Letterpress has undergone a revival in recent years, with design practitioners increasingly turning to a medium which offers a very fine, rich aesthetic and allows the use of bold inks to create work that not only looks more distinctive than that churned out of a laserjet but also has a sense of history, and craft behind it, making it feel unique. Obviously these attributes don't translate completely onto screen, the letterpressed object can only be appreciated to its full extent as a physical object owing to its tactile nature.

The images that really stood out to me were created by Peter Kruty and Lovio George Inc and can be viewed by copying this link into the address bar: http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2254/letterpressco0.jpg - Kruty's type design competition poster has utilised the way letterpress is an old medium to amplify the traditional feel to the poster created by the heavy, serif typeface and layout reminiscent of a bourbon whiskey bottle or even a wild west 'wanted' poster.

The Lovio George typographic illustration of the Eastern Market is part of a series of postcards depicting landmarks around the American city of Detroit. Letterpress works particularly well in this image as the crisp, sans serif type in black (with the white counters and spaces the two merge to create a steely shade of grey) creates a very constructed image- reflecting Detroit's reputation as a major centre of industry (it houses 3 of the world's biggest automotive companies General Motors, Ford and Chrysler).

http://ohpickles.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/lovio-george-typography-letterpress-wow/

http://www.peterkrutyeditions.com/