Discover our Printing Presses

Sometimes moving forward means taking a few steps back...

We are constantly looking for new ways to diversify and evolve Nomado Store. When we decided to set up our own letterpress printing studio, this meant travelling back virtually to the 15th century.

Because we believe that branding is important, we decided to call products created in our own typographical (or letterpress) printing studio "Nomado Kappan".  "Kappan" : (Japanese) printing or typography.

The Nomado Kappan range includes letterpress products in many formats, handprinted using vintage typographical presses. Colours are printed one at a time. Letterpress printing was the printing gold standard for centuries until it was mainly replaced by offset (and later digital) printing in the second half of the 1970's. 

Letterpress printing is a very tactile experience is two ways :

• The printing technique itself is a manual process involving setting up "cuts" (engraved printing blocks, typically illustrations) and lead type. The printing presses we use are all manually driven, with one exception that uses a very old electric motor but still needs to be fed paper manually (sheet by sheet). Our oldest presses are at least 130 years old, they are made of heavy cast iron and still work perfectly. Printing with these old mechanical devices is a real pleasure (join one of our letterpress workshops to try it out yourself).
• The cards or paper products themselves are usually printed on very high quality paper, often pure cotton. The characters or illustrations are printed under pressure, they are "debossed" (pressed into) the thick paper. Both the texture of the special paper and the depth of the print offer a tactility that is not available from "ordinary" modern greeting cards or printing matter.

If you have visited our brick and mortar store, No108, you will have seen our letterpress cards, you may also have seen them on our Nomado Kappan collection page. You've seen the end result of the printing process, this article is about the printing presses we use.

Our two oldest presses were made in the 1880's :

Cropper-Charlton Franklin Crown proof press : 21" x 16" printing area, 89 Kg (195 lb). These presses were originally used for taking a proof print before launching large print jobs on the main printing presses. We use it for larger cuts or wood type, including for up to A3 size posters. Super practical, still works perfectly after over a century (and twenty years in a cellar).

"Fritz" our No7 FM Weiler Boston Tiegel platen press. Made in Berlin (DE). A workhorse, 100% manual, just the right size for greeting cards. Still prints beautifully. Printing area : 15 x 23cm (5.91" x 9.06"). 80 Kg (175 lb)

Our more "recent" printing presses :

Adana TP48 : electric motor-driven platen press. Made in England (1952). Relatively lightweight (138Kg/300lb) thanks to its clever aluminium and steel structure. Printing area 24.1 × 17.8 cm (9 1/2" x 7"). Has an unusual cylindrical ink disk. Manual feed (one card at a time).

Our largest and most powerful printing press, we use it for more complex images and printing jobs. The press had been in storage for over 30 years when we purchased it, it took Charles two weeks solid spread over a one year period to clean it up, replace worn or broken parts and get it set up and running again.

Adana 8 x 5 : our first printing press and possibly the best selling amateur printing press ever. Portable, easy to use and capable of very nice results (see our selection of cards by Mitchell Finch for example). We own two of these, the oldest made in the 1950s, the other in the 1970s. We use these presses for printing simple cards and our letterpress workshops (contact us if you'd like to join one). Weight : 15Kg, printing area 8"x5" (20.32 x 12.7 cm).

Adana 3 x 5 : a mini version of the 8x5, we use it, mainly to print the Nomado Kappan logo on the back of cards or details in a second or third colour when using the 8x5 presses. 

Please contact us if interested in ordering custom stationery from us. We can print cards, business cards and personalised writing materials for you based on your own design, or ours.

We also organise letterpress workshops on a regular basis, for groups and can organise one on demand as well (corporate events, etc.).

See our Nomado Kappan Collection here.