New Norwich Venture Appealing for Historical Printing Equipment
(L-R) Jarrold designer Louis DeMarco with Donna Youngs, Michael Sadler, Birdie Hartley and Martin Schooley
A new venture between a volunteer group looking to revive the art of letterpress and Norwich University of the Arts is calling on donations of historical printing equipment.
BDM Associates was formed in 2024 by three colleagues who had previously volunteered at Norwich Printing Museum – artist and printmaker Birdie Hartley, designer and typographer Donna Youngs, and master compositor Michael Sadler.
The trio contacted Martin Schooley, programme director for communication design at Norwich University of the Arts, to put forward the possibility of helping him secure his dream of having a letterpress and printing studio within the university.
This concept was accepted by Schooley, the senior management team, and the university's vice chancellor.
The team are now on their way to opening The Michael Sadler Letterpress and Printing Studio in the coming months. They said many donations of historical printing equipment, including presses, equipment and inks, have been donated from a number of sources already, but that they need a few more items.
"Using the method of hand setting, the brain, eye and hand function is different from designing digitally and can help a new, creative trajectory to work in conjunction with contemporary ways," the BDM team said.
"We hope that this will give an extra dimension to Norwich University of the Arts and will be more of an adjunct to their courses rather than a separate entity."
Youngs told Printweek: "This all started off last October, and it was quite surprising that just through our own contacts, we started being offered quite a lot of equipment.
"We've been offered a Vandercook press, and we had lots of bits and pieces donated from Barnwell Print which closed last year, although its name and goodwill were sold to Micropress.
"But over time, as we've collected stuff, we've realised that there are still some bits and pieces that we need, which is what's listed on our appeal poster."
The Michael Sadler Letterpress and Printing Studio appeal poster
Youngs added: "We'll be doing this all voluntarily, but it also means we can use it for our own work and maybe in the future run short courses. The main purpose of it though is going to be to introduce that history to the graphics and communication students and to keep it alive."
The group currently have two Albion presses along with the Vandercook, and said they now have enough in the way of presses, but they still require items including wooden letters, metal type and spaces, setting rules and setting sticks and other related items.
The team are hoping that the new studio will be up and running at the university towards the end of this year.
Schooley said: "Re-establishing a letterpress workshop at Norwich University of the Arts is such an exciting project for us.
"We have a long tradition of teaching a broad range of graphic design disciplines and generations of our award-winning students are employed at the best design agencies all over the world.
"We already have great digital and screen-printing facilities, and so giving the students access to physical type again, and giving them the opportunity to explore and learn the fundamental rules of typography, will enrich their experience, and offer them new opportunities to experiment and realise their design ideas."