Hungry Workshop on Letterpress Printing

Hungry Workshop is not your average print studio, they are a powerhouse creative studio that is part letterpress specialty printing, part design studio that pride themselves on partnering with creative people, agencies and brands, creating intimate, physical moments. Run by the dynamic duo Simon and Jenna Hipgrave, this studio pumps out an exceptionally high standard of work in everything they touch. Summing up the ethos behind their work is the phrase "For work that holds weight" and if you have ever felt a beautifully printed piece of letterpress stationery, that phrase will very easily resonate with you. Letterpress has a level of tangibility and tactile quality that is only achievable with this very special printing process. During our chat Jenna and Simon take us through the nitty gritty of their process including the history and origins of letterpress from the presses being flown and dropped literally from airplanes into warzones to print propaganda posters to now being used for high end specialty printing. We talk about what's changed over the years and why they are able to do such experimental and wonderful things on the press today. We also touch on the idea of innovation through constraints and hear how working with a machine and technology that is close to 600 years old actually inspires progression and experimentation rather than stifling it. Introducing Hungry Workshop On Letterpress Printing.

Hungry Workshop

Hungryworkshop.com.au

@hungryworkshop

Hungry Workshop Printing Workshops

TwentySix Exhibition

Links

Moveable Type

Johannes Gutenberg

Heidelberg (Windmill) Platen Press

Letterpress printing in action - video of Hungry Workshop's press 

Vertical Miehle Printing Press

Slack

26 Literacy Fundraising Exhibition

Pop and Pac

Bone Digital

Colourplan Paper Stock

Extract Paper Stock

Spicers Steven Paper

Dodgy Paper

Cruel and Unusual Nourishment Podcast

Studio Sounds - Charli XCX "Charli"

Quotes

"The trick for us is finding the common thread that runs through everything that we do and really focussing on that."

"Having a creative approach and a problem solving approach to the production side of things really helps us be experimental."

"It's relief printing, it's effectively like a stamping process, there's not much in the way of complexity and the technology or in the machinery, a flat surface is inked and pressed into the paper."

"Because the elements are so limiting, you're really forced to think laterally about the things that you can do."

"These machines are like a precision german wristwatch meets a diesel truck engine."

"What's really interesting about letterpress printing and the print production process is that its been around forever and it will continue to be around forever."

"When we're producing something that is letterpress printed, it has a real kind of sculptural quality to it."

"The very best papers are the thick fluffy ones, with cotton content... the thicker and softer the better with letterpress."

Original Theme Music

by Devin Luke - devinlukemusic.com

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