Printshop! Exploring new possibilities for a dialogic and collaborative space of making through Letterpress printing, artistic collaboration, workshops and public engagement.

Research Question What is the continued importance of the Caseroom as a dialogic and collaborative space of making, and publicly communicating, print heritage? • What is its importance as a sociable space in relation to opportunities for in-person, hands-on collaborative making and testing? • What do analogue methods of working offer in contrast to the virtual/online processes that dominate current art-design collaborations? • What is the implication of the above for the methods adopted in my research? Issues and context of research question The letterpress method of composing text, dominant for almost five centuries in Europe since c.1450, conducted in the shared space of a Composing Room or Caseroom, was superseded in the latter half of the twentieth century by photographic processes, then followed by digital typography. The contemporary proliferation of the computer as the standard tool of typographic design has brought into focus the contrast between the individual user-interface of the Mac and previous shared collaborative spaces of making such as the Caseroom. The omnipresence of the single user digital interface is keenly felt within graphic design. It would be hard to suggest another area where a designer would engage formally in typography other than through a keyboard or via Letterpress. Letterpress is still retained in some art school environments such as RCA and GSA. The relative uniqueness of being in a shared space for formal engagement in typography is rare and deserves active development