Galerie P98a is a letterpress workshop set up by Erik Spiekermann and his love of the printing press and letterpress from a young age. The workshop reintroduces traditional printing methods in the 21st century through printing, publishing, research and collecting. Some of the type have been collected by Erik himself or have been given to him. They have more than 500 cases of wood type from 8 to 60 Cicero, around 450 cases with foundry type from 6 to 96 point. They have a room full of miscellaneous type that isn't complete, some that have been given to them or some that don't print as well as they have worn or not properly stored. Most of their machines for typesetting and printing are Korrex's and they have a Heidelberg Cylinder and a large 1924 Johannisberger stop-cylinder press.
They sell their prints in order to keep the workshop open and occasionally do commercial work such as printing publications.
P98a was interesting and quite a new experience for me as I've never really been keen on letterpress or hand-made prints, but chose to go since I thought I should learn more about traditional printing since I heavily associate Graphic Design with digital design. I had never had any printing press/letter press experience apart from the letterpress room they offer in uni. To be in a environment where everything is about traditional printing and letter press was inspiring because I could see all the typographic design posters made using the printing press which made me realise that not all nice design has to be made digitally. Using a printing press gives the design more of a personality and tone that digital design cannot give. The whole atmosphere of the studio felt creative and made me feel excited to be there and learn about something that I didn't have much knowledge about.
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