During lockdown, you literally had to get creative, especially with children. Berlin letterpress printer Martin Z. Schröder came up with the idea of using business stationery in a different way and designing cards together with the neighborhood kids - Druckerey Junior was born.
No daycare, no school visits - children in particular were affected by the monotonous lockdown routine. To counteract the coronavirus boredom, Martin Z. Schröder, letterpress printer and owner of the print shop of the same name in Berlin, offered workshops for five neighborhood children. There was plenty for the young artists to discover: In addition to drawing and designing their own card motifs, the participants were given an introduction to the old craft of typesetting and letterpress printing and were allowed to cut and print pictures in linoleum.
The results were impressive: "Some of the cards were so good that I had the idea of printing them on one of the larger machines and offering them in my online store," says Martin Z. Schröder enthusiastically. He used letterpress, linocut and lead typesetting as printing methods.
"However, I did the production of the cards in larger quantities myself, i.e. printed, cut and creased them, because these machines are still too big or too dangerous for the children anyway," explains Schröder. For the printing, he used the classic Römerturm Precioso paper in the colors white and ecru, with a matt surface and a grammage of 300/m² in DIN A5 format. Precioso is usually used as business paper. Thanks to its fine cotton rag content, it also enables intensive ink absorption during surface printing and is therefore particularly suitable for card printing. The printing expert used the lined Precioso envelopes to match.
Incidentally, the children learned even more at the workshops, such as arithmetic in professional life: there was also an insight into product costing and those who wanted to could put their arithmetic skills to the test.
Martin Z. Schröder and his print shop
Martin Z. Schröder discovered his passion for the art of printing at the age of 14. After his apprenticeship in lead typesetting, he also worked as a publisher and feature writer and gave lead typesetting courses for students and children. In 1994, he founded his own print shop in Berlin. There he prints with classic lead type, following the example of the inventor of letterpress printing, Johannes Gutenberg. The printing machines, some of which are over 100 years old, are located in the middle of the workshop and are used by the Berlin native to create individual, high-quality print products. The printing expert also offers regular lead typesetting workshops for children and senior citizens as well as lead typesetting and letterpress workshops for students.
Römerturm business papers
The wholesale company Römerturm, which specializes in fine and artist papers, is characterized by a high-quality portfolio and close cooperation with paper manufacturers and its customers. "Business papers as art papers: the Druckerey Junior project is impressive proof that it pays to think outside the box," explains Wolfgang Stemmer, Managing Director of Römerturm Feinstpapier, "we are delighted that our customer chose Precioso paper for this fantastic project. The cards turned out really great, we are very impressed by the creativity of the children and the commitment of Martin Z. Schröder, thank you very much!"
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