our projects
Saving the machines
Issue: Antique printing press machinery destined for landfill
Client: Ray, Excell Press
Outcome: Re-homed at start-up print studio Commoners Press
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Our mission to keep waste from landfill sometimes extends to finding a new use, or a new home, for items. This is one such story.
In March 2017, Ray, the owner of Excell Press, officially retired after fifty years. Keen to talk, we stepped inside his small Brunswick factory just as a storm began.
The deafening sound of rain on the roof made it impossible to hear, but that didn’t seem to matter. Ray’s nimble fingers were already showing us how to conjure up words as if by magic. He asked Leonie to spell her name. His fingers found each letter without even looking and there it was: E.I.N.O.E.L in typeface – but back to front and upside down as it should be in the land of typesetting.
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After we had touched so many of the tiny letters, Ray showed us the machines: the huge guillotine with its large pedal worn from decades of contact with Ray’s right foot, and the treadle printing press that requires the efforts of a human operator. Ray – this 88-year-old with knees no longer as stable as they once were – could still make it work and all we could do was watch, amazed.
The “Original Heidelberg”, the workhorse of the shop, was last. Ray had just printed his final job: a label for a small futon business who had been a client for many years. He flipped the switch. As there was still sufficient ink on the pads, a gate full of typeface and furniture, and enough of the special powder that is puffed onto each sheet to dry the ink after the letters are printed, more magic happened.
But what would become of those marvellous machines? What was their next life?
In the months that followed our visit to Ray, UpShop Industries searched for an answer. Finding solutions to the transportation and storage of this heavy machinery proved difficult. But eventually Rob Eales stepped up and, with perseverance and passion, we worked together to transport the letterpresses to a new location in Brunswick.
Instead of going to landfill, these machines live on at Commoners Press a local start-up print studio that works with artists and designers on printing projects that are community-focused, experimental, sustainable and/or support regenerative practices.
Saving the machines
Issue: Antique printing press machinery destined for landfill
Client: Ray, Excell Press
Outcome: Re-homed at start-up print studio Commoners Press
Our mission to keep waste from landfill sometimes extends to finding a new use, or a new home, for items. This is one such story.
In March 2017, Ray, the owner of Excell Press, officially retired after fifty years. Keen to talk, we stepped inside his small Brunswick factory just as a storm began.
The deafening sound of rain on the roof made it impossible to hear, but that didn’t seem to matter. Ray’s nimble fingers were already showing us how to conjure up words as if by magic. He asked Leonie to spell her name. His fingers found each letter without even looking and there it was: E.I.N.O.E.L in typeface – but back to front and upside down as it should be in the land of typesetting.
After we had touched so many of the tiny letters, Ray showed us the machines: the huge guillotine with its large pedal worn from decades of contact with Ray’s right foot, and the treadle printing press that requires the efforts of a human operator. Ray – this 88-year-old with knees no longer as stable as they once were – could still make it work and all we could do was watch, amazed.
The “Original Heidelberg”, the workhorse of the shop, was last. Ray had just printed his final job: a label for a small futon business who had been a client for many years. He flipped the switch. As there was still sufficient ink on the pads, a gate full of typeface and furniture, and enough of the special powder that is puffed onto each sheet to dry the ink after the letters are printed, more magic happened.
But what would become of those marvellous machines? What was their next life?
In the months that followed our visit to Ray, UpShop Industries searched for an answer. Finding solutions to the transportation and storage of this heavy machinery proved difficult. But eventually Rob Eales stepped up and, with perseverance and passion, we worked together to transport the letterpresses to a new location in Brunswick.
Instead of going to landfill, these machines live on at Commoners Press a local start-up print studio that works with artists and designers on printing projects that are community-focused, experimental, sustainable and/or support regenerative practices.
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© 2024 Upshop Industries
Upshop Industries is a certified Social Enterprise.
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Upshop Industries is a certified Social Enterprise.
