Athenaeum Press : Background : Urban Typography Project
First things first.
Okay, lesson 1: Pronunciation.
Athenaeum. ATH•EN•EE•UM.
Not Anthenaeum. Not Antheum. ATHENAEUM.
But what should I expect after choosing such a nasty name, right?
The Athenaeum was the temple of Athena in ancient Greece. A building used for the study of arts and sciences. A name that I felt very suitable for my letterpress studio — the artistic side involving visual composition and design sensiblilities, blended with the scientific technology of the mechanics of the historic printing presses and the reproductive processes of printmaking.
My Design & Letterpress Background
During my junior year of design school, I took a letterpress printing
class. I instantly fell in love with the process — mixing inks by hand,
stacking pieces of lead type and blocks of images, and literally smashing
the paper in the press. The machines alone were amongst the sexiest things
I had ever seen. This was oldschool, and I loved it. As
I found my design career being more and more influenced by digital
media, the idea of keeping my hands dirty and working with heavy machinery
drove me to acquire my own press.
Over time I acquired a couple more presses and some more random equipment, moved to a studio downtown, and continued to run small commercial jobs, as well as develop a small line of greeting cards and begin experimenting with my own art prints.
Urban Typography Project
As I entered my senior year in design school I became more and more fascinated with typography.
I was drawn heavily to dated signs in particular. I loved seeing the uneven weathering of hand
painted type on aged sheet metal. The art of a neon bulb entwined through various letterforms to create a
functional shape. Bricks that had crumbled after decades of wear, yet still bore the painted
name of a company now in an extinct industry.
As my interest grew, I started a photo journal of many of the signs around the Salt Lake City area. As a school project I put together a small book of my findings, titled Urban Typography. I found myself always carrying a camera, with a sense of urgency to record any historic typography that I could find, as I noticed that some of my findings had been painted over or demolished since the last time I passed.
As the collection increased, I experimented with manipulating the photos to reproduce as 3 color letterpress prints. Now all of the Urban Typography Project prints are created through mixing both current digital media with a near-extinct, 15th century printing technology.
Learn more about the letterpress printing process on the letterpress page.
