Image of the Melbourne Museum of Printing by Bilateral

In Issue 17 we did an article about the art of letterpress printing. Had we known about the Melbourne Museum of Printing (MMOP) we would have mentioned it, but sadly we did not. At this fantastic place, you can go to see Michael Isaachsen’s collection of letterpress machinery. Not just a museum, it’s also a working print shop – you can spend an afternoon learning about typesetting and printing by actually doing it.
But, what’s even sadder than us not knowing about it until just recently, is that the MMOP is battling to stay open. This Sunday, there will be an exhibition/fundraiser to try and prevent it closing. Twenty-two artists and designers have made prints that you can buy, including ‘our very own’ John Warwicker (Dumbo feather, Issue 10), and other clever clogs like Studio Round, Pip & Co, and Fabio Ongarato. There’ll be live tunes and bookbinding and typesetting demonstrations.

John Warwicker : Issue Ten : Introduction

It might seem ridiculous for someone widely regarded as one of the world’s best designers to admit, “I don’t know what design is at all”, but John Warwicker understands that embracing the ‘not knowing’ can be your greatest strength. Whether you’re familiar with the work of Tomato (of which John was a founding member in 1991) or not, you’ll no doubt appreciate taking a walk inside his mind. There’s something deeply reassuring in hearing that even someone of John’s calibre, and who has the world’s most design-savvy corporations as clients, is as unsure of his abilities as the rest of us. He too struggles with the difficulties inherent in balancing the demands of a commercial career with nurturing one’s own creativity. John was creative director of Da Gama (1981-1984), head of Art and Video at A&M Records (1984-1987), creative director of Vivid I.D. (1987-1991) and was the first foreigner to be admitted into the Japanese Type Directors’ Club. He directs short films and commercials, designs album covers, treats type like oil on canvas, is about to have his first monograph published, and, after spending most of his career in London, has recently moved to Melbourne… for love… Df

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