La Fondation Louis Jou

A letterpress studio

• Letterpress Design
• Woodblock Illustration
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I learned letterpress printing by apprenticing a master printer at La Fondation Louis Jou in Les Baux de Provence, France. It was possibly one of the most magical experiences in my life. I was living in one of the most picturesque regions of France, riding my bike to work 44 km a day, and eating sumptuous French provincial foods.

To make this broadside, I hacked away at 4 wood blocks, creating a very rough leaf-like pattern. I inked the cuts in a Fall palette mixed from the studio's printing inks and printed them onto sheets of handmade paper. Then I set a poem by Paul Verlaine in a spiralling arragement to represent a falling leaf, and printed on top of the woodblock patterns. I finished it off with a single blind embossing from the same woodblock. Et voila!