Sycamore Street Press by guest Eva Jorgensen

Sycamore Street Press got its start a couple of years ago on the brick paved Sycamore Street in Columbus, Ohio. We moved to Columbus so that Kirk could study Slavic Linguistics at Ohio State, and I tried unsuccessfully to find a teaching position. Looking around for something else to do with my degree, I started getting serious about printing on the vintage Vandercook letterpress sitting in our dining room (while also juggling a job in a stationery shop). Soon I began collaborating with some of my graphic designer friends, and Kirk would help whenever he had time.



Fast forward a year and a half: I had quit my retail gig, we’d schlepped our paper goods to about a dozen craft fairs, shown in the National Stationery Show, spent many late nights printing, and met a lot of great people along the way. Around that time, Kirk finished up his degree at OSU, and instead of looking for a job elsewhere, we decided that he would join Sycamore Street Press full time. We made the move back to Utah, and set up shop in Heber City.

Sycamore Street Press is divided up into 5 collections/projects:



I make the hand drawn illustrations for the {Folk} collection.



Amy Shaffer and Kristin Mills write and design the {Lark} collection.



Stephanie Ford designs the {Pop} collection.



Each month, we ask a different artist to collaborate with us on a limited edition letterpress print. They create the artwork, and then we print them and sell them. We call this project the Sycamore Club. The prints above are by Jamie Tallerico, Michéle Brummer-Everett, Kari Jorgensen, and Kirk Jorgensen (clockwise from top left).



Although we don’t have an official “custom collection” yet, we've done quite a bit of custom letterpress printing and design for clients. The designs above are by Zuzanna Audette (with hand lettering by me), Kristin Mills, Stephanie Ford, and Kristin Mills (with hand drawn map and hand lettering by me.) (clockwise from top left).



Please stop by my blog sometime for more letterpress goodness, giveaways, artist interviews, and more : http://evajorgensen.blogspot.com/

Or take a look at our website / shop / twitter / facebook / flickr

Thank you to everyone for stopping by, and thanks especially to Rachel for having me over! I hope you all have a great weekend! -- Eva