This show presents initial work from GSA academic staff members of the research cluster centred on the GSA Letterpress Caseroom. Our aim is to activate the research potential of this unique studio space through cross-disciplinary material exploration.

Using the Caseroom as both archive and provocation we have begun to explore our initial brief through the lens of our own practices key themes which include: text as image; image as text; language into form; and form into language, with focus on materiality, craft, process, physicality and print history.

Our initial conversations and practical experiments examined shared craft heritage between print culture and other specialist practices, such as typecutting and fine casting within Jewellery (the technical origins of Western typography arise partly from Gutenberg’s craft as a goldsmith), or block printing within Textiles. Staff from the multiple departments involved have developed unexpected initial outcomes through re-interpretation of the knowledge-making methods and traditions of Letterpress.

My role is both co-leader of the cluster and co-curator of the exhibition.