Joie Studio is pleased to offer custom and ready-made letterpress printing as a cornerstone of our business. We create ready-made and custom stationery for all your needs.

What is letterpress?

Letterpress began in Europe in the 14th century as a way to quickly reproduce books, which had, until that point, been handwritten one by one. The invention of the printing press was revolutionary, and today, artisans still use the very same process to produce exquisite stationery, books, posters, and broadsides. Letterpress is a relief process in which a raised surface such as movable type, metal dies, or photopolymer plates is inked and then pressed against a surface (generally paper) to create an impression.

Impression is key in letterpress, setting it apart from other printing processes. Too light of an impression, and one can't tell that it is letterpress. Too deep of an impression crinkles and bends the paper, creating a wrong-reading braille on the other side of the paper. Here at Joie Studio, we strive to create a "just right" impression, balancing impression with the properties of the paper to create beautiful and elegant letterpress printed stationery and paper goods.

What presses do we use?

Everything at Joie Studio is letterpress printed in-house using our own antique Golding presses.

Our first press is a Golding Official (pictured right), a tabletop press dating back to 1919. It has a chase size of 6" x 9" and is used for proofing, making coasters, and printing small items. When we acquired it, it had been sitting on a shelf in northern California for 40 years in near-museum condition.

Our second and primary press is a Golding Pearl Improved, a standing press dating back to 1909. It has a 7" x 11" chase. The previous owner attached a motor with a variable speed pulley system. It sat rusting away in storage in Temecula, California for over 30 years before being rehabbed and sold to us.

What do we use to letterpress our products and custom stationery?

We use a combination of handset type, antique printer's cuts, and custom metal plates.

How do we letterpress print our custom designs?

The designs are conceptualized digitally, and we send our designs out to have custom metal plates made from out digital files. Inks are custom matched and mixed by hand, if necessary. After the ink is mixed and put on the press, we lock the custom plate into the press and we print each sheet one at a time. The paper is fed onto the press, one by one, and the result is a wonderfully hand-produced, impressed paper.