Letterpress & Bookbinding

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The Letterpress and Bookbinding Workshop consists of two studios, the letterpress studio and the reprographics studio. The core of our workshop is craft-based, such as bookbinding (books, boxes, portfolios) and printing (letterpress, stamping, hot foil, risograph duplicator and a colour production printer). You can take classes in basic bookbinding techniques, risograph analogue and digital skills and letterpress printing. 

This is what you can do in the workshop

Facilities and applications 

Book printing 

  • Two flatbed proof presses; one electric Mec Saroglia and one hand-operated Asbern, two platen presses, one padel-driven and one hand-driven. For printing metal and wooden typefaces. Type cabinets, metal type a range from 6 to 72 and wood type. 
  • Schmedt Prägnant foil press 
  • Polymer plate machine.  A photosensitive resin letterpress material that can be developed with water. Allows you to make your own stamps and letterpress material.

Bookbinding 

  • Electric guillotine for cutting stacks of paper 
  • Board chopper for cutting single sheets and cardboard. 
  • A roll cutting machine 
  • Nipping presses 
  • Paper drill 
  • Tools for binding like bone folders, scissors, awls, needles, thread, glue etc.  

Reprographics 

  • Risograph duplicator with 10 available colours.   
  • Konica Minolta C4065.

Overview of possible technical instructions and courses


Basic skills

  • Stamping with wooden letters 
  • Handwork techniques (hand stamping and ink rollers) 
  • Simple binding methods (gluing, spiral binding, loose rings, brass screws) 
  • Operating cutting machines 
  • Analogue printing with RISO 
  • Paper drilling 
  • Foil stamping 

Advanced skills

  • Setting lead and wooden letters, integrating on a press 
  • Book sewing 
  • RISO digital printing

Letterpress 

  • You will learn how to build letters using the metal letters and the wooden letters. We will talk about typography design, the system used to calculate everything and how to build a layout. We will use the different presses to print texts, cards or posters.

Bookbinding

  • You will learn the basic techniques of hand-binding a book. We start with information about paper and its grain. You will get a tour of the workshop and learn how to use all the cutting and binding machines. We will bind a booklet, a Japanese book, a Coptic stitch and a hardcover book.

RISO Duplicator analogue and digital

  • Analogue and digital learning to make masters. Printing and binding a simple zine with staples, pamphlet binding or spiral binding.