You know the feeling when people trust you, believe in you, and no matter what support you? The feeling
you have when you think these people may have made a mistake, and you are not sure if you can really
do it? The moment when you want to be proud yet your stomach is in a knot and you are full of worry?

This perfectly describes me, well, about 5 years ago. Full disclosure, I still worry a lot, but that’s a moo point… After a major I no longer wanted to embrace, a job that was not creative, my family, friends and a school of advertising art believed in me. They gave me a chance (and a scholarship) to become who I wanted to
become: a print designer. Obsessing over design details, fondling paper (not kidding), thinking of inks,
varnishes, folds…

I also quickly realized that for me—to really connect with paper and inks—letterpressing was the answer.
I just knew this form of printing was my calling. So I embarked on running a stationery studio called paperreka.
I have bought (and sold) a few presses, purchased type cabinets, print blocks, gage pins, inks, tympan paper, furniture and quoins, you get the drift. Now I obsess over finding and rescuing everything letterpress related.

A recent, very significant expansion to my type collection and a friend’s daily design project got me thinking.
I want to create something that is inspirational and meaningful. I want to do a project that is taking a chance on me, designing with analog methods (paper, wood or metal type, ink & amelie) and to give back. Well, forward to be exact.

I’m calling the project print it forward.

One design each week. 10 limited edition prints. 10 dollars each. For a whole entire year.

The project is called print it forward because a lot of people believed in me and allowed me to become who I am. The project is called print it forward because I want to make prints that will inspire other designers, letterpress enthusiasts, and type nuts. The project is called print it forward because I want to raise money for the Dan Johnson Student Scholarship fund so future generations of print designers at saa will hopefully also print it forward.

So that’s what I will be doing. Thinking–typesetting–printing–selling–mailing–giving. Forward.