Bone China is a brand new letterpress wedding invitation suite that will soon be added to the Elum V2 wedding collection. This invitation is HOT OFF THE PRESS and will be released at the National Stationery Show. Stay tuned for three other brand new letterpress invitation suites to be released this month.
Letterpress is one of the earliest forms of printing text on paper. Circa 1439 Johann Gutenberg was the father of letterpress printing in Europe, but the Chinese had developed similar types of relief printing as early as the 2nd century A.D. The Letterpress printing process is printing in which the raised surface of type and/or images are inked and then pressed against the paper to obtain an image in reverse. Historically this raised surface was movable type (characters cast as individual letter forms in wood or metal) where each letter was placed by hand to form the words and images. Here at elum we use photopolymer plates to create the raised surface. The artwork is created digitally and then we transfer the work to film and use the film to expose the plates. This allows us to create the artwork and typefaces we specifically want.
During the printing process the “plates” are inked and pressed into the paper to create a canyon of space where the ink is then deposited into the bottom of this impression. Only the most skilled and precise process keeps the walls of impression clean and the bottom filled with a thick and even layer of ink. The high contrast of the color and shadow created by the ink filled impression and clean walls gives letterpress its distinct allure and charm. At elum we pride ourselves on our ability to produce the finest example of letterpress printing. Our process is labor intensive and each item is run through the press one at a time. This is a time consuming process which has been forsaken for faster and cheaper processes such as offset and thermograpy printing. We have preserved this traditional way of printing and inherent in our process is the visible craftsmanship, skill, and handmade care that is obvious in every single piece.
We just got back from the National Stationery show and boy are we pooped! We were pleasantly surprised by the attendance and turnout at the show. Here are some pictures of our new booth that we just had made. It was a HUGE booth for us as we took on three booth spaces this year and somehow we managed to fill all of the display shelves with product.
This is just one of the two massive crates that we had shipped to NY from California. Just to give you a reference as to the size of this, the crate measures 11 feet long by 6 feet wide by 6.5 feet tall. Its big, very big!
Here we are unpacking the crates and laying out some of the walls, you can see the center cabinet wrapped in bubble and shrink wrap.
The rest of these are pictures of the finished booth with all of the product, both new and old, delicately placed on the shelves and displays. Pretty cool!!
Our brand new wood-grain desk won the Best New Product Award at the show in the “Think Green” Desk Accessory category.
This is going to be an ongoing post of some random pictures from a recent trip to Japan, Hong Kong and China. It was the second trip that I have taken to Asia in that past two years. Last year I went to meet some of the manufacturers that I work with and attend the 101st Canton Fair trade show in Guangzhou China. This year it was more of the same, however there was a bit more time to experience some of the culture that these Asian cities have to offer. (more…)
