And yes, to those who asked, I was thrilled to hear about a letterpress place in Berlin. I took the tram to Weißensee in the rain (S in her sling, an umbrella over the two of us) and pushed back that heavy turquoise door to find Christian Schöppe's courtyard studio.

As he set the type and printed the cards, we talked. A native Prenzlauer Berg-er, he told me about learning letterpress as a young man in East Germany, and about how most of the good German presses come from Leipzig, and how he really should get in touch with friends who used to operate a small studio on Rügen. He mentioned he's got a couple of presses he might be interested in selling, though he was astonished when I asked whether people ever got in touch wanting to apprentice with him. 100 cards are about 36 EUR, which I think is a pretty good deal.

Do you know other letterpress places in Berlin or, for that matter, Germany? I'd love to hear about them.

Buchdruckwerkstatt Christian Schöppe
Langhansstr. 20 (in the second courtyard), Berlin-Weißensee (map)
Tel.: 030 - 424 76 84 / 0170 - 687 11 24
Open by appointment

Comments

[Rebecca]

http://www.letterpress77.com ! Fantastic letterpress and design by Kiyo, a Japanese ex-pat living in Düsseldorf.

[Leslie]

At the Technisches Museum in Kreuzberg they have a working letterpress shop and even a working Linotype machine with someone who knows how to work it, which I have never seen before or since (I once visited a print shop where they had two Linotypes blanketed in dust because one of their operators retired and the other had died). For a small fee, the docent will work with you to set a small card on the Linotype machine and print it. You can't get too fancy with designing anything though, the point is not to make you beautiful cards but just to show you how the thing works.

I've also seen a letterpress shop in Friedrichshain on Gabelsbergerstraße or Samariterstraße, not sure which, near Frankfurter Allee.

I'm sure there's a kajillion others, I mean, Germans invented printing!

[Berlin Reified]

Rebecca, Letterpress 77 is fantastic! I love Kiyo's playful images.

Leslie, wonderful tip about the Technisches Museum.

My question about further letterpress places was naively phrased, I know. A friend who works at the Center for the Book Arts in New York sent me a recent catalogue that includes a quote by Justin Howes (taken from Matrix 19). Howes writes of a future "in which letterpress will, surely, no longer be valued primarily as a means of production, but for its potential as an intermediate technology". It's such examples I've yet to find in Germany; I'm sure an embarrassment of riches awaits me.

[David]

http://www.tradpress.com/ I walked past this place the other day when, promenading with Junior Puss, I crossed the Rubicon that is Wisbyer Strasse. Presence of said Puss prevented me from entering the basement workshop, despite a welcoming smile from the printer inside. But it did look promising, as a glance at the website further confirmed. A destination for a future walk.

[Katrin Müller]

http://www.impressiona.de !
Innovative letterpress shop with a rich history dating back to 1842 based in Düsseldorf.

A young team of design and printing specialists offers beautiful wedding invitations with a stylish vintage look, other letterpress products like business cards and also print jobs for other designers, advertising companys and event manager... my cards they printed for me are just beautiful...

[Catherine]

Hi there! Does anyone know of Letterpress workshops in Berlin?

[small caps]

Hi Catherine. Ask at Druckwerkstatt in Kreuzberg Museum near Kottbusser Tor at Adalbertstrasse 95a. There you can learn how to set type. Cheers, Sabrina

[kseniya]

I just stumbled across your post, and thought I'd add that the Druckladen des Gutenberg Museums in Mainz is a wonderful, amazing place: thousands of typefaces, Korrex presses, wood type, you name it. All in a beautiful space. I was an intern there for six months, and it started off my letterpress career. They have workshops as well as open studio days--the volunteers are all retired type compositors and printers.

[Berlin Reified]

Sabrina, Kseniya, thank you for the suggestions! Now I'm eager to visit Mainz...

[Hans-Hilmar Kocjh]

Letterpress in North-East Germany!
Offizin Schwarze Kunst
Schulplatz 2
18292 Krakow am See
www.druck-buchkultur.de
and the same Office in
Galery "Blickwinkel"
Münzstraße 18
19055 Schwerin - Capital of Mecklenburg/Vorpommern
in the historical old city

very good

[Berlin Reified]

Hans-Hilmar, thanks for the tip!

(& isn't blogging funny? I had totally forgotten about Kseniya's comment but so pleased to rediscover it now I've learned I'm going to Mainz for work in September.)

[Mellisa Turner]

Hi

Greetings for the day!!!
I visited your blog recently. I really liked your articles and found them to be really very good and informative.

I have written many articles for different travel blogs in the past. So I was just wondering if I can do something for your wonderful site. I would like to give you a unique article of around 500 plus words on any topic related to traveling.

I really like the concept of your blog and I won’t be charging you a penny. I also assure you that the article will be published only on your site, but in return all I need is just one link within the article.

It would be my pleasure if I can contribute with something in the success of your blog and one thing that I can say with my experience that this blog have great potential.

Please feel free to get in touch with me regarding this anytime if you are interested.

Looking forward for your quick and positive response

Regards,
Mellisa Turner
http://www.mackays-self-catering.co.uk/
http://pinterest.com/mellisaturner/
https://twitter.com/#!/Mellisa2889

[Leslie]

Hi Sylee, just availing myself of this great resource while mulling over Christmas card printing possibilities, and noticed that the comment above this is really rather spammy... shouldn't it go? Anyway, hope you are well and enjoying today's lovely snow!