Both a letterpress printer and a designer, Jessica Spring fully appreciates the meticulous craftsmanship that letterpress demands. She loves working with not only vintage metal type and handmade papers, but also with her heavy-duty printing equipment, such as her Vandercook Universal One. The proprietor of Springtide Press in Tacoma, Washington, Jessica also designs and prints unique artist books featuring handmade paper and letterpress printing. Her books range from Dogs I Know to Collectors' Tales (a collection about our obsession to collect, identify, and display objects of desire) to Spiceography, a comparison of typography and spices. Jessica has an MFA from Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper, and her work is collected by the Northwestern University, Yale, Art Institute of Chicago, Newberry Library, Multnomah County Library in Portland, University of Vermont, and the University of Washington. She's also been exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Canada and London.
Q&A with Jessica Spring
What’s your design background? I was an English major as an undergrad but worked as a typesetter (back in the day when graphic designers didn’t do everything themselves) for the college. My first job out of school was at a company that bought one of the first Macintosh computers—this interested me much more than the editorial work I was hired to do. I left to work as a production designer at a weekly newspaper where typography was critical, even in a 1/32 page advertisement. Next came 10 plus years as partner in a design firm that incorporated letterpress printing. We spent a lot of time educating clients about letterpress printing—things have obviously changed! Eventually I had the opportunity to attend graduate school at Columbia College in Chicago where I could focus on letterpress, papermaking and bookbinding. The program introduced me to a whole world of book artists—folks who were writing, printing, binding and innovating on press. Though I use graphic design in my work, I really consider myself a printer. My latest project was printing a poem by a local poet about playing whiffle ball. I printed portions of the background using Astroturf and it still makes me giggle.
Describe your wedding. My wedding, almost 20 years ago, was in the front yard of a big old lake house north of Chicago, nearly in Wisconsin. My mom handled most of the details with the exception of a few responsibilities for me (invitations and dress); my husband (music and beverages); and the pair of us (rings and ceremony). Each invitation was handset, sewn into a little booklet, and packed into a handmade envelope—an all-consuming project I thoroughly enjoyed. All the other details came off without a hitch—I honestly don’t recall much about the food or the day. The videotape isn’t much help since it’s a “silent” movie, all sound drowned by our neighbor’s riding lawnmower. That August day was typically humid and we heard reports of mass skinny-dipping after we escaped to Wisconsin for our honeymoon. To this day I wish we’d stayed!
What inspires your designs? Vintage wood and metal type, ornaments (or printers’ flowers), nature, words, and my brown dog.
What is your most prized possession? My family—including my handsome dog Wrigley and naughty kitten Athena—is the best possession of all. For pure materials objects, my funny old Rosback perforator is awesome.
What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done? My son Jack provides a daily dose of excitement. Who needs skydiving? Some of the best things I’ve done since moving to the Pacific Northwest have involved the mountains: hiking Mt. Rainier and climbing Mt. St. Helen’s. Mt. Rainier can disappear for days, then it just reappears, mammoth and magnificent, and I’m surprised every time. I can look back fondly on trips to the Wisconsin Dells (Tommy Bartlett! Xanadu Foam House of Tomorrow!) but it’s a different sort of excitement.
Describe the place where you design. My newly renovated studio is amazing: warm, dry, full of heavy equipment and an inspiring place to be. I don’t like to spend much time at the computer which is stashed upstairs in a loft—all the luddite goodies are on the main floor.
What are your favorite colors of the moment? I like espresso (but I call it chocolate). It’s the color of my dog Wrigley (but I call him Brown).
What were the colors of your childhood? Most of my childhood colors are back in a big way via the ’60s and ’70s: orange, brown, turquoise. I had a Schwinn with a bicycle seat with flowers just those colors. I still hate pink.
What’s on or in your nightstand? My nightstand is a mess, piled with books in various stages of reading. I also have a teeny ceramic dish that sleeps a very cool yet sturdy ring my husband gave me to replace my wedding ring, broken after years of cranking presses.
What city do you call home? I live in (and love) Tacoma, but still consider myself from Chicago.
gen
