The BIG Type Festival and the Letterpress Community in Ireland

As we celebrate our 30th anniversary with The BIG Type Festival (4–6 September), we wanted to pause for a moment and shine a spotlight on the wider letterpress community across Ireland.

From educational institutions and community workshops to private presses, artists, designers and commercial printers, letterpress continues to thrive in many different forms. Across the country, people are using this centuries-old process to create artwork, posters, books, stationery, publications and commissions, while also teaching new generations the skills and craft behind the press.

This community is a testament to the creativity, craftsmanship and dedication at the heart of Ireland’s print culture. It is also a reminder that print is far from a thing of the past. The physicality of the process, the character of the impression and the possibilities offered by type, ink and paper continue to inspire contemporary makers and audiences alike.

As we mark 30 years of the National Print Museum, we are delighted to celebrate not only our own history, but the people and presses keeping print alive today.

Distillers Press is the typography and letterpress workshop at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. Here undergraduate and postgraduate students engage with a large collection of wooden and metal types in pursuit of creative and artistic expressions across printed, digital and multimedia outputs. As an active research space the holding consists of a growing collection of over 400 cases of type, a late Georgian era iron hand press, a Victorian tabletop platen, two mid-twentieth-century proofing presses, and an array of modern finishing equipment. Work produced at the press is exhibited widely and collected globally.

The Salvage Press: Based in Dublin, The Salvage Press (est. 2012) is the imprint of artist, designer and letterpress printer Jamie Murphy. Jamie collaborates with artists from diverse disciplines producing book projects which give particular attention to concept, materials and fine printing. He has been invited to exhibit, lecture, and discuss his work broadly. His award winning books reside in private, public and institutional collections across the globe.

The Plunkett Press: In 2020, the search began for finely crafted, personalised stationery beyond the realm of mainstream digital printers. This quest led them to a retired printer who specialised in letterpress stationery and was unsure what to do with his printing press. With plenty of support and encouragement we acquired the skills to continue the tradition – the relative simplicity of the press which only uses manual labour but produces beautiful embossed stationery seems an important skill and tradition to keep alive. This very tactile hand printed stationery is beautiful to touch and really stands out from today’s mass produced digital printing.

Other letterpress friends: The Ponc Press, The Belgrave Private Press, Kells Printing Works, The Genetian Press, The Pear in Paper and Ellen Martin-Friel.

If you have a press and are working primarily in letterpress in Ireland, and you’re not listed here, we want to hear from you!