#Gauteng52, Week 40: imPRESSed Craft Bindery and Letterpress

Welcome to Week 40 of my #Gauteng52 challenge, for which I visit and blog about a new place in Gauteng Province every week for 52 straight weeks. This week I visit imPRESSed Craft Bindery and Letterpress in Birdhaven.

Strangely, this will be the second #Gauteng52 post I’ve written about a letterpress printing studio in Joburg. But with the exception that both places use very old printers, imPRESSed in Birdhaven couldn’t be more different from Print-A-Line in Malvern.

Martin and Ania of Impressed
Martin and Ania Ciolcosz, owners of imPRESSed.

I’ve been struggling to write this post because I don’t know how to coherently explain the wide variety of interesting activities that go on at imPRESSed.

Martin and Ania are Polish-born South Africans who quit their day jobs to become printers, book-binders, and collectors. They built a special brick studio on their property where they collect antique letterpress printers and printing/bookbinding tools. They print cards and invitations and stationery, restore and collect old books, craft handmade journals and notebooks, and conduct courses and demonstrations on letterpress printing.

I think the pictures explain things better than I can.

Inside the inPressed studio
Inside the imPRESSed studio. Martin and Ania have collected some extremely old printers – the machine on the far right was made in 1853.
Bookbinding tools at impressed
Bookbinding tools.
Martin demonstrates one of the printers
Martin takes one of the printers for a spin.
Letterpress type
Letterpress type.
Antique paper-cutter
Antique paper-cutter.

Bookbinding at imPRESSed

I was particularly fascinated by the bookbinding and restoration that Martin and Ania do at imPRESSed. This is one of those niche services that I’ve never really thought about before, and in fact I think very few people are still doing it in South Africa. But if you have a very old book – maybe a family bible or ancient academic text – that is falling apart and needs to be repaired, imPRESSed is where you should take it. Ania and Martin do all the restoration themselves, by hand.

Old book at imPRESSed
One of the books they’re working on.
Ancient book
A family bible. At first I thought the date said 1423 (!) but now I realize it’s probably 1923. Still old though.
Repairing the pages of a book
Ania painstakingly glues pages back into a book, using special tools and Japanese paper.
Bookbinding work
Old tools and new tools.
Book endpapers
Endpapers, which are glued to the inside covers of books.
Handmade journal from impressed
A handmade journal covered in South African Shweshwe fabric.

There’s something magical about imPRESSed – a new building full of old stuff, where a 21st-century married couple practices centuries-old art forms that are still relevant today. Again, words are failing so it’s best to go see for yourself.

The imPRESSed studio is located on Greenacres Drive in Birdhaven. Call +27-83-305-8315 to arrange a visit or attend one of their course or events. Also visit the imPRESSed website and Facebook page for more information.

Read all of my #Gauteng52 posts and check out the interactive #Gauteng52 map.