About this Workshop
Get some time away from the screen and join a limited 10 people workshop on letterpress with legendary designer and typographer Erik Spiekermann and his team. Before modern technology allowed books, newspapers and magazine to be printed they way they are today, they were printed using mostly letterpress. A printing method where each letter would be picked, arranged and layed out manually, to result in printed text. Whether you are someone who loves typography, or just want to try out something new, we highly recommend taking part in this workshop and creating your very first motives, hand crafted and printed. Nothing like using your hands and having fun with fellow designers in the process! Because prints can take up to 2 days to dry, you will be able to either get them at the Conference Day (September 6th) or we'll mail them to your address.
Who is it for?
If you spend too much time behind a computer and you wish for other ways to apply your design skills and play with real type, ink and paper, don't miss out on this experience!
The workshop does not require any technical or previous knowledge, and the people at Hacking Gutenberg will be there to help you out, show you around and create your own letterpress print.
What you’ll learn
Get to know the wonderful p98a studio and Erik himself
Learn the principals of letterpress, the elements needed and how to choose a type
Learn to create your first form and variations
Use the printer and get to the right result
Learn how to best dry and clean up the machines
Agenda
10:00: Welcome, Coffee and Breakfast
11:00: Get to know how Letterpress works
11:30: Start picking up your type and setting up your Form
13:00: Lunch Break
14:00: Get back and get everything ready to print
15:00: Printing starts
16:30: Hang your prints to dry, clean up and head to the satellite events if you want.
Erik Spiekermann is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design.
In 1989, he and his then-wife Joan Spiekermann started FontShop, the first mail-order distributor for digital fonts. FontShop International followed and now publishes the FontFont range of typefaces. His family of typefaces for Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), designed with Christian Schwartz, received a Gold Medal at the German Federal Design Prize in 2006, the highest such award in Germany.
He's been involved in the design of some of the most famous fonts including ITC Officina, FF Meta, Fira Sans and more.
Currently Erik runs Hacking Gutenberg, an experimental letterpress workshop in Berlin dedicated to letters, printing and paper.