An Elefont Never Forgets
Elefont Press is a small letterpress shop, nestled in the basement of the home of Matt and Elizabeth Griffin, in the neighborhood of Point Breeze, Pittsburgh, in the glorious green state of Pennsylvania. We produce only personal work in our basement, and are not a commercial shop.
Matt spent three years in the Indiana University Press type shop—in Bloomington, Indiana—under the tutelage of veteran printers Paul Brown, James Reidhaar, and David Wolske. By the time he left, he'd thoroughly caught the letterpres bug, and Elefont Press was officially christened with Prof. Brown's generous graduation gift of a Vandercook press.
Thanks to a sizeable wood type acquisition that Griffin and Wolske dredged from the musty corners of a defunct Chicago press—and many smaller finds and much guidance from the venerable David Chuchman, in Indianapolis (including a Golding Pearl which Churchman sniffed out in the Pittsburgh area within weeks of the shop's relocation to the Steel City)—Elefont Press is now a diminutive, but serviceable print shop, in which Matt and Elizabeth have leave to run amuck, at their discretion.
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Are We Not Men? We Are Elefonts!
Matt Griffin recently partnered with the web developer Michael Hellein, of Hellm to form Bearded Studio. He also teaches in the Design department at Carnegie Mellon University. Matt received his BFA in graphic design from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2007. This occurred slightly later in life than you might expect, after a number of years in the pursuit of music—during the course of which he became inexplicably famous in Japan. He now holds a position as a graphic designer at Mizrahi Design Associates in Pittsburgh, and has an unhealthy predilection for letterpress printing, and the acquisition of wood type in particular.
Elizabeth (formerly Raymer) Griffin received her MFA in photography from Indiana University in 2006 and her BA from Columbia College, Chicago in 2003. She now is an adjunct instructor of Photography at Carnegie Mellon University where she teaches black and white photography, alternative processes, and curiously-titled courses of her own devising. She is a self-portrait artist and Daguerreotypist, and—like her husband—is uncomfortably fixated on their dog, Beazus.
Faster than Prelefontaine
Busy little Elefonts are we. Here are some images of our recent work.
Answer the Telefont!
Matt and good friend David Wolske spent about 5 months negotiating with an aging gentleman printer in Chicago for his vast trove of wood type. At the end of the experience, they were waist deep in galleys of type, and both went home dizzy, pleased, and as David called it: “type rich.”
Between what later became known as “The Chicago Haul,” and a handful of smaller finds, Elefont Press has established a formidable collection for its young years. As more type specimens are printed, they will be posted here. Enjoy.
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Au Revoir Les Elefonts
Our tiny shop houses a Vandercook no. 1 Truss Proof Press (1932), and a Golding Pearl 7 x 11 Old Style No. 3 (1890). The Vandercook is hand-inked, and can be used to print small runs of poster-sized prints. The Pearl produces card-sized prints in much greater quantity. It's foot-powered mechanism allows up to 1000 impressions per hour without a drop of electricity.
Here are some images of the Elefont Press type shop.
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