Workshops → One of the joys of running a letterpress studio is to share the experience with others. At p98a we regularly set up workshop sessions for a group of individuals or entire teams. Workshop sessions start with a historical introduction to letterpress and with a look at different printing methods as well as the typographic measurement system. This is followed by a tour through the work-space. → Sign up here.
p98a is an experimental letterpress workshop in Berlin dedicated to letters, printing and paper. We are a group of multi-disciplined designers, exploring how letterpress can be redefined in the 21st century through research, printing, collecting, publishing and making things. We work with hot metal- and wood-type, several proof presses, a Heidelberg “Windmill” platen and other traditional analogue equipment, and combine those with digital technologies.
Collection → We have more than 500 cases of poster type made from wood and alternative materials, ranging from 8 to 60 Cicero (the German equivalent of a “line”) and around 450 cases of foundry type from 6 to 96 point. Gauges for measuring the height of rollers and type as well as the thickness of paper are tools we use daily. We also have type specimens and a large collection of books—old and new—about printing, typesetting and typography.
Post-digital printing → We expose polymer plates, cut large size type from digital data, mill punches to make matrices for casting new hot metal type and will be 3D-printing poster type as soon as the materials become affordable. We use a direct-to-plate process to output digital plates for letterpress-printing books on a Heidelberg Cylinder and a giant (130×96cm) Johannisberger stop-cylinder press from 1924. Erik and Ferdinand recently talked about the process and some projects at a conference → watch it here.
Suhrkamp Letterpress does not seek to serve a bibliophile market. Our aim is to produce pieces of literature that exceed the pleasure of reading and also satisfy other senses. Many trades are necessary to produce a book. A book is only a book, once it has become a book.
Publishing → Our journal P98a Paper is a collection of stories, opinions and illustrations by people we know and whose work we like. In its first volumes, the project began on a Risograph, a “digital silkscreen” printer used for small publications with spot colors. Through Paper we continue to explore different printing technologies: letterpress, offset, post-digital letterpress, and digital printing. Buy it here.
Material → We are experimenting with different materials and methods for producing our own large type. After trying out acrylic glass and 3D printing, CNC-milling from hard surfaces like Formica mounted on plywood turns out to be the most promising way.
Letterpresso → We sell books, posters, magazines and lots of other objects with a typographic theme: metal house-numbers, watches, note-books – all designed or made here at p98a. We make great coffee using our own Letterpresso beans which are also on sale in the shop. You can have a drink, browse our typographic library or just hang out and look around the workshop. We are here from 11 am to 6 pm, six days a week.
p98a.berlin
typographic workshop
Potsdamer Str. 98a
10785 Berlin, Germany
+49 (0)30 8321 9070
info@p98a.com
Instagram → @p98a
Twitter → @galeriep98a