Monday, May 11, 2009

Mok Duk

Anne Benjamin is an illustrator and printmaker living and working in Chicago, Illinois and the creator of Mok Duk (pronounced "mock duck"), a line of invitations, greeting cards and art prints. New obsession...

I like her explanation of letterpress printing....


LETTERPRESS PRINTING
It’s your classic Cinderella story. In the late 20th Century, this outdated form of relief printing invented by Johannese Gutenberg in the 1439, was revived by a design community tired of the intangible, impersonal computer world. Characterized by its "punch", the impression the printing plate makes on the paper surface and its modeled ink coverage, letterpress produces an earthy sumptuous feel. Soon, every stationery shop was carrying “new-fangled” letterpressed cards (When, actually they should have been called “old-fangled.”)

Letterpress printers have come a long way from printing Biblical texts, to peasant folk tales, to revolutionary propaganda, all the way up to the present day and me, Anne Benjamin, printing your very own letterpressed invitations for your very special occassion. Currently, I print on an antique Chandler and Price platen letterpress, circa 1914. I hope to be printing on the old girl until she breaks or until she breaks me--hopefully not the latter.

MokDuk.com