Pivot Interiors 2013 Letterpress Calendar

Pivot Interiors once again embraced their California heritage when designing their 2013 desktop calendar that we produced for them. In 2012 they featured classic California architecture and this year they showcased some of the golden state’s most notable cultural treasures.

All of the monthly pages were run at the same time on one large press sheet, which helps keep some costs down (we only had to set up and wash up each color once), but can also cause some challenges on press. As sheets are run through the press over and over, the paper can begin to warp, wreaking havoc on registration. Taking the time to properly trap all of the artwork in the prepress stage and watching the amount of impression while on press can help quell this.

The pages and outer folding wrap were printed on one of our large cylinder presses with four inks on Mohawk Via Vellum Bright White 100# cover. The desktop stand was letterpress printed with one ink on a custom duplexed stock comprised of Mohawk Bright White 100# cover and French Poptone Blu Raspberry 100# cover. After printing the stand was custom diecut and hand assembled.

Summertime Poster

Sure, it’s technically only spring and there may still be snow on the ground (okay, there is for sure still snow on the ground), but our thoughts have turned dreamily to the hazy days of summer. Inspired by our favorite parts of the season, this poster is hand illustrated and letterpress printed with three inks.

Printed on Mohawk Options 130# cover (a 100% post consumer waste sheet), the poster measures out to final size of 13″ x 20.” It’s available for purchase in our online store, so go ahead and “get some fun!”

Letterpress Open House

It’s time again for us to throw open our doors, hand you a beer and show you all that our letterpress studio has to offer. March 22nd we’re teaming up with our basement neighbors, Westwerk Design and Hennepin Made to host a basement block party. Glass blowing demos will be happening at Hennepin Made, Westwerk is flush with games (foosball anyone? darts? bubble hockey?) and of course we’ll have a poster on press as per tradition.

It’s a family friendly-ish event (we’ll have a kids activity) that starts at 4 and runs until we give up. So grab a coworker, a friend, and/or your mom and come on down. Oh, there’s a Facebook invite you can RSVP to, if you’re into that sort of thing.

URGENT: Help Keep College of Visual Arts Open

This is a call for your help. As a reader of Beast Pieces you may have wondered where a crazy letterpress shop like Studio On Fire began. Here is a little background story from company principal, Ben Levitz:

I went to College of Visual Arts (CVA) as a kid right out of high school. I choose it because of the small campus size and the fine arts focused BFA degree. I wasn’t sure what on earth I wanted to do with an “art” degree, but I knew I loved making things. And I liked that CVA wasn’t the slickest or fanciest campus. It seemed like a place for focused art exploration with an amazing faculty. I enrolled with my mother still skeptical. ( I think she was just nervous about sending her son off to do nude figure drawing. ) I embarked on a four year arts journey that taught me fancy words like chiaroscuro and gestalt. I learned about everyone from Hieronymus Bosch to Paul Rand. I even did my nerdy typography-based senior thesis on a fellow named William Dwiggins who designed typefaces for letterpress printing. I graduated with a BFA in Communication Design and a passion for visual culture.

I struggled during my schooling choosing between a design major and a sculpture major. I ultimately chose a design major because I wanted to eat. But after graduating CVA in 1998, I quickly found in my first design job a very different experience than the one I had as a CVA student. Most of my work day was locked into the glowing screens of design, not making stuff with my hands. And most of the stuff I did make, ended up in trash cans of clients. I sought change. I wanted to make stuff that people would love and keep. I wanted some outlet for craft that related back to my college experience. So, in the fall of 1999, my and evenings and weekend were spent beginning a letterpress printing space in my home basement. I called it Studio On Fire, named for the Typographer Frederick Goudy who twice lost his lifes work to studio blazes. Fast forward 14 years – the company Studio On Fire is  a best-in-class letterpress shop with a dozen employees and clients all over the world. Gestalten even published a recent book of projects that were printed in our studio.

Learning at CVA was one of those amazing life experiences that was so formative to my valuation and passion for craft and design. As Studio On Fire grows as a business, this is what we value. Craft. Design. It was that simple framework of learning that provided a chance for me to focus my passions and ultimately build a unique business that reflects the things I love.

The sudden announcement in January of CVA’s  closure was a bombshell. In addition to running Studio On Fire, I’m now busy as President of a group called CVA Action making the case to our creative community that CVA deserves a chance to stay open. Yes, it is going to take some big changes. It is going to require vision beyond what the current Administration and Board of Trustees could offer. This change is big and we have an amazing team of people stepping in to surround this effort. I believe those changes can be made and I am stepping up to play my part. This is vital to the Saint Paul community, vital to Minnesota, and vital to creativity. But we need your help.

I’m going to the mat and asking you to consider a gift of money to this vital part of our creative community. If you love what we do at Studio On Fire, you already recognize the value a creative education brings to business. I am hoping you care enough about this cause to contribute.

For more details about our fundraising campaign, visit our website CVA Action. Time is of the essence. This is our last, best hope to save our beloved school and make the needed changes so we can put CVA back on the path to a successful and sustainable future. Please make a donation in any amount today.

You can make this happen, and we are so grateful for your support.

Thank You.

Ben Levitz, Principal, Studio On Fire

2013 Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar

Rolling into our store just in the nick of time for Christmas (so would that be in the Saint Nick of time?) is our annual Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar.

Each year our studio picks a theme, a color palette, and paper stocks before recruiting crush-worthy illustrators to join us in creating custom art for each month. We claimed the January and July pages for ourselves before inviting Brian Gunderson, the Jolby dudes, John Malta, Sasha Prood, and Karolin Schnoor to round out our cast of contributors for 2013.

Artists were given the theme of Lucky Number 13 and asked to interpret it at will, resulting in a multitude of superstitious icons and ironic illustrations. We designed the tri fold outer wrap by stealing bits and pieces from the monthly illustrations, collaging them in a long strip to be trimmed off the press sheet and later used for packaging.

The calendar pages and outer wrap were letterpress printed with four inks all together on a large 26 x 20 size press sheet of Mohawk Milkweed 160C. After printing the individual months were trimmed down to a finished size of  3.25 x 5 inches.

To make the stand we first duplexed  Mohawk Via Vellum Safety Yellow 80C to Decorated Paper Brilliance 12pt Tinsel Holographic to create a thick custom stock. After imprinting the stands with a tonal letterpress varnish they were custom diecut and hand assembled with the holographic stock on the inside (allowing a hint of holographic stock to peek out when the support of the stand is kicked out on your desk).

As a special bonus we are offering free DOMESTIC USA shipping on the 2013 calendars thru December 16. Enter coupon code FREESHIP (all caps, one word) in your cart.

If you’re curious, previous years can be viewed on our site: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

Fame Speakeasy Invitations

The fine folks over at Fame Retail hold an annual open house for industry friends and clients, building the theme around the booze and munchies they plan on serving each year (you may remember these bingo cards and these fair themed beauties). This year, with a nod to 1920′s prohibition, their team created a speakeasy theme across a set of cards that included mustachioed gents, pin-curled ladies, icons of delicate linework, and plenty of liquor lingo.

The card set was comprised of two stocks, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110C and Wausau Royal Compelments Eclipse Black 100c. The white cards were letterpress printed with a blind (inkless) impression before we ran them through the press for a pass of  black ink. Silver ink and a tonal letterpress varnish were used on the black cards.

To top it all off, these invites just won PaperSpecs Gallery’s Take Note Award. Be sure to check out the nice video posted on the PaperSpecs blog.

Two-Toned Edgecoloring

We recently produced this stationery suite  designed by Together We Create for the Massachusetts based film company Mystic Artists. The design called for two-toned edgecoloring–a production first for our studio–with two edges colored bright teal and the remaining two sporting a nearly-flourescent red. The outcome is fairly stunning, if we do say so ourselves.

The business cards were printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 90C custom duplexed after printing to make a 180lb thickness. Letterhead was printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80T with a coordinating 70T pre-converted square flap #10 envelope.

Two-Toned Edgecoloring

We recently produced this stationery suite  designed by Together We Create for the Massachusetts based film company Mystic Artists. The design called for two-toned edgecoloring–a production first for our studio–with two edges colored bright teal and the remaining two sporting a nearly-flourescent red. The outcome is fairly stunning, if we do say so ourselves.

The business cards were printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 90C custom duplexed after printing to make a 180lb thickness. Letterhead was printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80T with a coordinating 70T pre-converted square flap #10 envelope.

Beautiful Blind Impression

Based out of San Francisco, Passing Notes designed this beautiful stationery system for Muhs Home, an online store retailing elegant home furnishings and accessories. Refined typography utilized two inks alongside chic illustrations. Since the illustrations were printed with no ink, what is referred to as a blind impression, we used a thick Crane Lettra Flo White 220 lb cover stock, allowing us to really go deep with the impression while reducing show through.

Other projects we have produced for Passing Notes include this Aphro Chic system and Patti Schmidt business card.

Measure Promo Cards

These cheeky promotional cards, designed by the folks over at Measure, are a great example of how fluorescent and metallic inks appear when printed on white paper. Day-glo pink and metallic silver ink were letterpress printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 110c that we duplexed after printing for a finished thickness of 220c. One card then received two perforation lines, allowing it to break down into smaller cards.