Letterpress is a printing method using a relief image of a block / plate. In the olden times, types are cast in lead types. The printing techniques were first invented in China by transferring images / text from carved stones and later carving on wooden blocks in the Sui Dynasty. Later it was systematically developed in to loose clay types in the Soong Dynasty. In the 1450s, Johannes Gutenberg from Germany invented the mechanical movable-type printing press and books and texts get to be mass produced. This had allow the mass transmission of knowledge and thinking and further trigger the Renaissance in Europe and the development of modern civilisation.

In the 1980s, with the development of modern digital printing, the letterpress printing technique were slowly being obsolete and discarded from mainstream printing. The basic theory of letterpress is to have texts or images being made in to relief plates. Ink were then being apply on the plate and the press unto the paper using presses. Letterpress commonly features a relief impression of the type, although this was considered bad printing in traditional letterpress. The new liking are to create deep relief or “bite” printed image to text on the paper which distinguished it from the other printing techniques. This ‘impression’ had also become the uniqueness of letterpress printing.

With the development of printing for more than 1000 years, designers using great designs, choosing its papers, colours and combining various printing technique to restore its glorious beauty on papers and printed products. 

In Def Good, we uses 1960s German Heidelberg printing press to produce unique printed goods. Let join us for experiencing the great joy and beauty in printing.