CR AFT HOUR Dedicated to creating bespoke letterpress stationery in KL, the four creative minds of The Alphabet Press talks to about craftsmanship, culture, and friendship. By Sharmita Summugam.
WHAT' S I N A NAME … It all began with a name card. We were looking for letterpress name cards for ourselves three years ago and we couldn’t find anyone to do it here in Malaysia. That was when we decided to create it ourselves. We flew to Melbourne to study the craft and returned to Malaysia to start our journey. Words are powerful and they could move us in ways beyond our imagination. Our name is a homage to the letters that tell beautiful stories.
THE F OUNDE R S … A friendship of more than 10 years is the very foundation The Alphabet Press is built upon. There are four founders – Cliff Leong, brand strategist; Zeejay Wong, printmaker; Fidella Ch’ng, art director; and Helios Loo, educator.
ONE O F A K I ND … The letterpress industry couldn’t produce print consistently and efficiently, so it was replaced by offset and digital printing. Letterpress printing moves like its age – 600 years old. This is why we produce our handcrafted products in small quantities. Each piece has slight variations in terms of colour and registration. The imperfections adds personality to the prints. THE A LPHABET PRE S S … The Alphabet Press is a letterpress stationer that embraces the centuries-old craft of letterpress. We produce quality paper goods that are visually beautiful. We believe that this method of printing is much more humane than the commercial printing technique that solely relies on fast output and lower pricing strategies.
CULTURE CONNOI S S E U R S … We're leveraging on the diverse culture of our nation. Malaysia is an inspiring country, and that translates into the products we create. We are utilising a very old technique of printing to make something that is relevant to our modern world, whilst maintaining the charm of our past. PAPE R AND PENCI L … The creation process for all our cards begins with hand drawings. It is an organic method and one that is easier to control and you can almost feel the strokes of each artwork. Once the sketching session is over, we will move on to the digitisation process, where we translate an artwork into its digital form, fine-tune it, and create the final artwork which are turned into printing plates. The Alphabet Press, 29 Jalan Riong, Taman Bukit Pantai, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 012-288 9921. www.thealphabetpress.com