Workshops
June 2nd, 2016
Damiano Bandini loves letterpress, and movable types. This is why he still runs an old letterpress workshop in downtown Faenza, carrying on passion and knowledge handed down from father to son.
La Vecchia Stamperia is a historic workshop (Bottega Storica dell’Emilia Romagna): everything started in 1920, so this workshop has been printing movable types on paper for more than 90 years – and counting.
He has got one of the largest collection in use, of very rare metal block-prints and unique artistic wood ones.
Every letterpress workshop is made of a lot of things: type cases, movable types, composing sticks, type gauges, presses, inks, and so on..
Every typographer has his own personal rules, and passions. Some typographers love big, wood types they use to create beautiful and colored posters. Some of them prefer to work with lead type, at smaller sizes. Sometimes, in a letterpress workshop you’ll find old compositions, forgotten in dusty corners, beautiful clichés and – if you are really lucky – some wood engravings.
Anyway, in a letterpress workshop you’ll always find passion, for sure. Passion is the reason why letterpress workshops are still alive today. And passion is what you’ll find in this workshop too, where La Vecchia Stamperia with the Kerning Staff will join their forces to guide you through a waterfall of characters.
During the morning: an introduction to typography and letterpress
- - printing demonstration at "La Vecchia Stamperia"
- - a discovery of how an "old style" letterpress workshop is organized
- - and introduction to the “tools”: paper, type, composing stick, type gauge, press, cliché, etc.
In the afternoon: development of a personal project
- - printing with presses
- - discussion on printed works.
