Author(s): Robert Klanten

Architecture and Urbanism

Young designers rediscover the allure of traditional printing.

Today's graphic designers, illustrators, and typographers are rediscovering old

printing techniques and handcrafts. They are inspired by passion for the unique;

the feel of different papers, press cuts, and embossing; the brilliance of printing

inks; and the originality of book binding techniques. The book Impressive

presents the results of this passion.

Today's fascination with old-fashioned printing presses and techniques started

with individual designers and smaller collectives that created one-of-a-kind

printed material by hand for special occasions, such as weddings or birthdays.

Impressive features these artists and their personal work as well as a broad range

of business cards, invitations, stationery, and publications that are designed and

produced in a way that is both nostalgic and contemporary. Historical styles

from the Victorian grandeur of floral elements and adornments to the aesthetics

of classical modernism are used and referenced as well as combined and

reinterpreted in unusual ways. Traditional and more exotic techniques such as

silk-screen printing, stamping, woodcut, or linocut are used. What counts is

doing it yourself.

Impressive investigates the interplay between traditional handiwork and current

trends in graphic design. The work collected in this book shows how relevant and

exciting the modern use of traditional design forms can be and how much it can

inspire the visuality of the future.