HEIDELBERG and Metsä Board unite with new strategic collaboration
As part of a new collaboration, HEIDELBERG and Metsä Board will join forces to develop a range of new packaging innovations
The People Powered Press, a custom-engineered letterpress machine dubbed the largest of its kind, is the subject of a newly released book
The creators of a 'record-breaking' letterpress printing press have published a new book, ‘TOGETHER’, featuring works made in collaboration with communities from across Yorkshire and beyond.
The People Powered Press (PPP) is a custom-engineered, Guinness World Record-holding letterpress machine described as a ‘mechanical marvel’, which is so large that it requires two or more people to operate.
The press was originally built as part of a two-year project titled ‘These Northern Types’ by Leeds-based design studio, Split, which explored contemporary Northern English identity through typography, art, and community engagement.
Manufactured by JKN OilTools, the press features a print area of 1.36sq m and is designed to print onto sheets of paper typically measuring 1.58m x 1.07m. The letters are cut at a size of up to 720pt, with numerals reaching up to 3480pt.
Because standard wood or lead letterpress type cannot scale to this size, the press instead uses two specialised systems to operate.
The first of these systems is a graft typeface with a custom set of letters cut from solid steel. Alongside this, a modular ‘Brico’ design system comprising of wooden blocks in four basic shapes can be combined to create unique letterforms at very large scale for public murals.
Using the Brico type design system, which was debuted by Split’s Oli Bentley in collaboration with printmaker Anthony Burrill and wood type maker Thomas Mayo, the People Powered Press has so far been utilised by over 120 groups and 4000 individuals from a diverse range of communities.
Speaking about the custom printer, Burrill says: "I’m in awe of the People Powered Press. It’s an incredible feat of engineering and ambition, taking the process of letterpress and leading it into a new and exciting territory."
The murals created by the press feature words and phrases written by participants in creative writing workshops, designed by Bentley and hand printed by the participants in collaboration with the PPP team.
The murals have been exhibited in a range of locations, from city-centre hoardings and shopping centres in Bradford and Keighley to spaces including Salts Mill, Saltaire, and Temple Newsam, Leeds.
New poems from creative writing workshops have been published alongside the murals – in non-commercial magazines, as paste ups, on hoardings, and as exhibits in their own right. A small sample of the poetry is included in the newly published book.
TOGETHER is available for purchase now from Split’s website, with 100% of the sales from the book being used to support the community engagement work of the PPP.
