Home / Current Projects / Column
02 — Ongoing column, published quarterly
The Printkeeper Interviews
Long-form conversations with independent printers, publishers, and print practitioners — a deep dive into the craft and philosophy of book-making in the contemporary era.
Why printers
Writers get interviewed constantly; the people who make the object get asked almost nothing. Yet every book you love passed through hands that chose its paper, set its margins, and argued about its spine. This column corrects the omission, one long conversation at a time.
Subjects so far include a third-generation letterpress printer, a risograph evangelist, a binder who restores storm-damaged archives, and an indie publisher running a one-woman press from a converted garage.
How an interview works
The format
- A full working day alongside the subject — press bed, bindery, or packing table.
- Ninety minutes recorded, edited for clarity but never for flattery.
- Portraits of the workspace, shot on film where the dust allows.
- A closing shelf: five books the subject believes everyone should own in print.
Recent editions
Recent columns have visited a paper mill running on hydropower, a bookshop press printing poetry on a 1910 press, and a type designer cutting her first full face. Back editions circulate through the quarterlies; a selected volume is planned once the series reaches twenty.
Suggest a subject
The best leads come from readers. If you know a printer, binder, papermaker, or publisher whose work deserves a day of attention, send their name — the kettle is always on.
Nominate a printkeeper
Know someone who makes books by hand and heart? Introductions welcome.