Typoretum, Colchester

As well as being an excel­lent let­ter­press print­er, Justin Knopp runs a num­ber of short let­ter­press courses in Essex.  I endorse Justin as a great let­ter­press sup­porter and am cer­tain that print­ers at all levels of under­stand­ing would enjoy his workshops.

Justin's Profile

My first prac­tical intro­duc­tion to let­ter­press print­ing came whilst study­ing BA (Hons) Graph­ic Design at Cent­ral Saint Mar­tins Col­lege of Art & Design (1991−1994). After spend­ing two days in the College’s Com­pos­ing Room — a 1950s time cap­sule deep down in the bowels of the build­ing — I quickly became fas­cin­ated by the cre­at­ive poten­tial of the pro­cess and by the ancient skills and ingeni­ous machines employed to make it all happen.

Since gradu­at­ing, my involve­ment with let­ter­press print­ing has deepened and I have acquired a sub­stan­tial col­lec­tion of lead and wooden types, print­ing machines and oth­er paraphernalia — much of which I have res­cued and restored to work­ing order.

After hav­ing spent many years design­ing and print­ing let­ter­press cards for friends, fam­ily, fel­low print­makers and the occa­sional com­mis­sion, I decided to intro­duce my designs to a wider audi­ence. After four­teen years of act­ive let­ter­press print­ing and two years of ded­ic­ated plan­ning, TYPORETUM was launched in August 2008 and all of our let­ter­press products are avail­able for view­ing and pur­chase via our web­site at www.typoretum.co.uk. TYPORETUM oper­ates with the sup­port of my wife, Cecil­ia, and occa­sional artist­ic input from our two year-old daughter!