My typographic workshop hackinggutenberg needs support. After more than one year with hardly any income (no workshops!), I may have to close it down, sell the presses and the type, let everybody go who’s been running this place since 2014, and tear apart a large collection of typographic treasures.
We are a non-profit foundation – Erik Spiekermann Foundation gGmbH – any contributions are an immediate write-off.
Our workshop is a unique place – we have a collection of historic materials like a printing museum, but no “hands-off” signs: everything is available for hands-on work. We do not stop at collecting, but develop new methods and techniques to bring letterpress printing and physical type into the digital age. We call it postdigital printing.
If you’re in publishing, software house, or any other culturally engaged institution, you should be interested in keeping a place like p98a alive. We’re not talking millions, just a reasonable sum to pay the rent and two employees.
Get in touch with me to discuss details, solutions, possibilities and to find out more. erik@p98a.com
And read this article: https://spiekermann.com/en/back-to-basics/
How sad. I believe the government could support more old traditional ateliers.
I hope for the best for you.
Not sure whether any government will be helpful – we are too much on the fringe and caught inbetween art, craft and commerce. But there is help in sight from businesses who appreciate what we’re doing.
Do you have a donate link?
Hi Ric,
thank you for your kind offer, but I am not looking for donations right now. We need a long-term solution, like a sponsor who sees the need to support us and may be in a related business. We are talking to Adobe and others. So keep your fingers crossed and spread the word.
Hallo Erik. Ich drücke euch die Daumen!
danke. Haste nicht mal 2 mio?
Ich schau mal nach. ^^
Keeping my fingers crossed. I attended one of the workshops in late 2019 right before Covid became a thing. It allowed me to experience first-hand this meticulous and wonderful printing workflow of yesteryear. Really hope that creative enterprises take notice and help preserve this sliver of history to which they owe their beginnings.
Erik, why don’t you let The Big M acquire P98a, just like what Jonathan did? ;)
On a more serious note, I hope you’ll find a sponsor (soon). I wish you luck!
I am an older student of Graphic Design at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. I have been in book manufacturing for more than 30 years and have had little knowledge of the Adobe Suite of products (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) as well as the world of Typography. I am in the midst of preparing a presentation on you, Erik, and I’m impressed with your work and the work of p98a. I have been delving into the world of letterpress having purchased an 1898 Chalder and Price Letterpress and quite a bit of type. My wife hasn’t forgiven me yet. I viewed your presentation to the Hamilton Type Museum in Two Rivers, WI and had a chance to attend a one day workshop at the Hamilton Type Museum several years ago after catching a documentary on public TV about the museum. I appreciate your great work and dedication to the craft. And yes, it’s pretty stupid and expensive but somebody’s got to do it! – Danke from Tim Taylor in Chicago, IL!