Risograph Print — Small Press Edition

Andrew: A risograph is a printing machine designed in the 1980s for cheap, high-volume office duplication. Somewhere along the way, artists and small publishers figured out that its limitations — the slightly off registration, the ink that sits on top of the paper instead of soaking in, the way two colours interact when they overlap — were actually the point. You can't fake what a riso print looks like. It's not a filter. It's a physical process, and you can feel it when you hold one. As an architect I spend a lot of time thinking about how things are made. This is one of those things where the how is inseparable from the what.

Ashlyn: I didn't know what risograph was until about a year ago. Now I see it everywhere — zines, art prints, show posters, book covers. It has a look that's immediately recognizable once you know it. Warm, slightly imperfect, nothing like what comes out of a laser printer. I actually prefer it to a lot of "proper" printing. There's something about knowing it was made in a small run by someone who cared about every copy. Dad explained the mechanical process to me. I nodded. But I already got it from just looking at one.

We're not pointing at one studio here — the small press world is worth exploring on your own. A few places to start:

• Perfectly Acceptable Press — Houston-based, consistently great
• Colour Code Printing — Toronto riso studio, does client work and publishes their own
• Etsy riso search — overwhelming but worth the dig
• Your local zine fair — seriously, go to one

Buy something small from someone you've never heard of. That's the whole point.