About

PROCESS

Using a vintage Adana Eight-Five platen press, metal foundry type, 100% cotton papers, antique copper printing blocks and my own linoleum and wood cut blocks, I use traditional processes and craft techniques to create work that expresses and reflects my love of design and detail, and inspires an appreciation of the characteristic texture and quality of letterpress.

Each piece is unique, produced with careful attention on a small scale and in short runs, under the imprint Lampyridae Press.

PRODUCT

Much of what I do is bespoke; from stationery, invitations, and announcements, to limited edition books, record covers, CD sleeves, and illustrated broadsides. But I do also have a constantly changing selection of greetings cards and printed matter for sale in the shop section of this website.

APPROACH

My interest in letterpress printing developed as I carried out research on early 20th century book design for my doctorate, a collaborative project with the University of Sussex and Charleston. While studying the books designed, illustrated, printed, and bound by the Bloomsbury group, I became increasingly interested in the the ways in which visual and verbal interact on the page. In the middle of writing a chapter about the influence of typesetting on Virginia Woolf’s fiction I decided to buy myself a press and teach myself to print.

Since then I have endeavoured to continue the dialogue between my academic research and craft practice. I love nothing more than to discover a piece of printed matter from any period of history, to feel it, study it, analyze it, and then draw on these findings as inspiration for my own work.

My studio is located in Brighton, UK.

All photographs courtesy of Penelope Fewster

© Anna Fewster, 2010 ☛ info@annafewster.co.uk