Peter Fraterdeus / SlowPrint image
Meet Peter Fraterdeus, designer, typographer and founder of SlowPrint letterpress in Dubuque, Iowa.
The studio combines his 30+ years of typographic expertise with the quality and excellence associated with designing by hand. Peter works almost single-handedly in the studio, producing items like business cards, stationery, holiday cards, and posters.
Q: When was your first exposure to printmaking?
PF: I started doing it in seventh grade. That seems like a long time ago now.
SlowPrint business card/ Flickr image
Q: Why is your studio called SlowPrint?
PF: It’s a response to fast print, but directly related to idea of slow food—better materials, prepared with loving care.
Q: How does working with paper and ink (rather than on a computer) challenge you?
PF: Well, it’s a challenge because things don’t always end up looking like you’d like them to. Ink might not take to the paper quite right, or the paper’s not behaving. You have to accept the limitations of the medium. With the design aesthetic these days, people are looking for what looks good on a screen, and you just can’t do that on letterpress. It isn’t possible. It’s a challenge to educate people as to what letterpress is good for; it’s not so great at trying to emulate the high-tec look of a billion-dollar international corporation, where you’ve got that aesthetic where everything is white on black.
Q: How big are the letterpresses?
PF: They’re usually in the range of 2500 – 3000 pounds—not quite as big as a Volkswagen, but very dense and heavy. They’re made well to function over 100 years. It’s hard to imagine anything today like that, lasting that long.
Q: What’s your design philosophy?
PF: Approach every problem and come up with a solution, not so much the style. I consider myself more of a typographer than a graphic designer, so I’ve worked a lot with type itself as a primary design. I feel like I’m not just the printer; that’s the means to the end. Good looking letters on beautiful paper, whether its calligraphy, web design or printing—it’s all under the same umbrella for me.
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- SlowPrint type set / Flickr image
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- SlowPrint press/ Flickr image
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- Basta Surf Card / Flickr image
To learn more about Peter and SlowPrint, visit the studio website or check out their Flicker photostream.
good person to interview. i wish i had more information about what exactly this is, how the letterpress works. i know a little bit, but i’m guessing your average reader will be in the dark. good to have a photo of him. just left me wishing for some additional background on the process. also, the giant Q’s don’t really work. seems like you’re putting emphasis on the question, when it’s the answer that’s most important. but i wouldn’t make the answer that big and bold either.