2.0 / The Workshop

The resurgence of Letterpress over the last few decades has triggered a passionate respect for the craft of Typography & has reinforced its position in the visual arts. Letterpress has evolved as a natural ally to the graphic arts & identified itself as an exciting process to express ideas & an extraordinarily thorough process to examine language & typography.

As an antidote to the immediate — often dispensable nature of modern technology — the slow articulation of the technical side of Letterpress allows the designer to immerse themselves in the focus of the craft & revel in the simple joys of making.

The Workshop is nestled at the far end of the Station Road Industrial Estate — (over the bumps) & down to the left — follow the signs to ‘Riverside’. You can park outside the unit.

Unit 5 / Riverside
Station Road Industrial Estate
Bruton / Somerset BA10 0EH

Kelvyn Laurence Smith
mrsmith@smithsrules.com

01749 705  574
07866 258 171

2.1 / Design, set & print

Some notes . . .

Photographs by @emmalewisphotographer

02.2 / Capturing the workshop . . .

Some notes . . .

. . . on ‘Round My Manor’

A powerful set of photographs from old friend / colleague & fabulous designer Martin Brown.
Martin stopped by on his way to deepest Cornwall in a damp August — sporting a straw pork pie hat — with SLR at the ready.

We talked about old times / old friends / Caslon old face & just being older!

Some notes . . .

The talented Matthew Walder came to the workshop to document the Rue Pigalle Workshop in 2018*

Mathew says “Photography was the mix of science and art that I craved and any thoughts of being an Architect or an Astronaut soon went out of the window.

Without photography I wouldn’t have seen half the places I’ve been to, or met all the interesting people who continue to push me to capture my view of the world.”

*
. . .

*Rue Pigalle was founded in 2010 by Isabelle Fish, a French ‘craft-insider’ and entrepreneur with a insatiable appetite for travel and cultural discovery.

“Rue Pigalle champion crafts and support craftspeople and believe that craft is one avenue towards responsible consumption and production. As a practice and career, craft is a joyful and optimistic way to address the serious issues of sustainability, skills transmission, community economy and equitable society.”

Old friend & talented designer Mark McConnachie of ‘People Like Us’ asked me to create some typographic compositions for the launch of his new website shop.

Mark has a great photographic eye & immaculately captured the process of Designing, setting & printing these compositions.