TYPA centre is seeking to raise funds for the crucial maintenance and upgrade of its historical printing machinery. Specifically for the key purchase of a functional electric guillotine and to finally put its unique Monotype (a metal-type casting machine) into operation.
Who are we?
TYPA is a print and paper art centre in Tartu, it is unique to Estonia and the Baltic countries. As a community-based centre we support various engagement activities, hosting education groups, exhibitions and even concerts. We collaborate with universities, artists and other people interested in letterpress and the printed arts. The centre also houses a bindery (TYPA Stationery), which employs historic machinery to produce original reusable notebooks, albums and book covers.
We ensure century-old machines are in good working order and print both bespoke work and the creations of printmakers. Here, visitors are introduced to the secrets of paper making, the history of the art of printing and letterpress technology, as well as fascinating machines that are in one way or another related to papermaking or book production.
TYPA Stationery
TYPA Stationery, the bindery studio at our centre, produces reusable notebooks, secret boxes and other useful items. We're best known for our unique notebooks, made from discarded books donated by libraries and individuals. Pioneering methods in reusing waste products from the print industry.
TYPA Stationery needs help with the crucial purchase of a working electric guillotine. This equipment would help us to promote the educational workshops - especially binding courses - which we offer to artists, children and adults through workshops and museum classes.
TYPA receives several tonnes of donations of old books every year and our mission is to find new uses for books that would otherwise go to waste. In addition, we introduce our visitors to our binding and recycling mission. We sell the best books in our second-hand bookshop, Fahrenheit 451 and create our beautiful TYPA stationery from the remaining waste.
Currently, in the bindery, we work daily with an old Soviet-era guillotine, the БРП2М (produced in 1969), which is difficult to repair and often has poor handling. This malfunctioning machine hampers the production of high quality products - orders can be delayed and we are unable to fulfil larger quantity orders - subsequently disrupting the work of the education centre. We are currently unable to accommodate larger groups for bookbinding or similar events.
It should be noted that the electric guillotine TYPA wishes to purchase dates back to 1995, and the current model in use, the 1969 model БРП2М, will continue to be used as a supplementary piece of equipment and wont be discarded!
What kind of machine is the Monotype Caster?
A Monotype is a machine for making metal type, invented in America in the late 19th century, but later moved to Surrey in the UK. More precisely, it consists of two machines: a keyboard and a casting machine. On the keyboard, you type in the text you need and the machine perforates combinations of holes in the paper depending on the specific characters, spacing and justification. The casting machine, on the other hand, casts the letters in molten metal according to the information from the perforated tape.
The Monotype at TYPA was made in 1963 and used to work at the Karl Mattiesen printing house on Vallikraavi Street in Tartu. Unfortunately it is not in working order at the moment, but we are working hard to get it up and running.
The machine was donated to TYPA by the printing company Greif. As far as we know, the TYPA Monotype is the only example of this machine in Estonia today.
Why is it important to make the Monotype operational?
TYPA has a unique collection of metal typefaces, the only one of its kind in the world, the typefaces of which are unique to Tartu and Estonia. In this way, TYPA offers visitors, artists and students unique experiences through its educational programme and artistic activities. Here participants have the opportunity to print themselves, helping to preserve the skills and knowledge of this historic process.
Today, TYPA faces the bottleneck that the historical collection of metal type can only be used by qualified museum staff or artists for pre-agreed projects. However, the production of new types provides an opportunity to make them accessible to a wider range of audiences while ensuring the preservation of its existing collection of historic metal type.
We are currently improving the TYPA Monotype enhancement force with the centre's own resources. Our aim is to set up a high pressure tin die casting machine, learn how to use it and train new masters and print specialists in the future who will be able to both maintain and use the machine. In this way, we will ensure the preservation of this unique feature of tangible and intangible print heritage.
We will use the working Monotype to produce new and free-to-use type to develop educational programmes, collaborate in the field of education and provide an interactive museum experience for a much wider audience than today.
The restoration of the TYPA Monotype is the responsibility of TYPA's master craftsman Jörgen Loot, assisted by Ian Gabb, British letterpress specialist and top consultant.
Help us to preserve our print heritage
The world is changing fast and today's fresh technologies could be obsolete tomorrow. That's why it's imperative that we preserve these historic artefacts for future generations, along with the skills to operate them.
If we raise €3440 then we will get half of the cost of the electric guillotine and the other half would be covered by the TYPA centre itself. Thanks to a high quality electric guillotine, our education centre will be able to run bookbinding and notebooking workshops for larger groups and the binding studio will improve the quality and speed of the work.
If we can raise a total of €6880 then we will be able to purchase the guillotine entirely thanks to the donors and we will have more funds left over for the development of the machinery and thus for the development of the printing heritage - e.g. to improve the machine for making Monotype or metal type.
If we can raise a total of €8500 then we will be able to finance the final repair of the Monotype thanks to donors as well. In this way, we will be able to produce metal type for everyday use by artists, local craftsmen and enthusiasts. In addition, it will provide an opportunity in the future to train a new master craftsman to maintain and operate a type casting machine in Estonia.
Rewards
TYPA Stationery notebooks
TYPA Classic notebook is just like a book! Durable and refreshingly recycled, TYPA Classic is our most popular notebook that looks just like a book.
Bound in a sturdy, stitched adhesive binding; covers are real book covers (from libraries' piles of discarded books); content paper is blank, ruled or spotted Olin Design Regular 120gsm; the number of pages in the notebook varies depending on the thickness of the book covers; at the end of the notebook is a paper pocket for storing cheques, tickets, etc.
TYPA College notebooks are made from real book covers and come in a comfortable spiral binding so you can scribble notes on your knee. Bound in a spiral binding; covers are real book covers (from libraries' discarded book piles); content paper is blank, spotted or ruled Olin Design Regular 120gsm; the notebook has approx. 80 pages (approx. 160 pages).
Hand-printed English-language book in letterpress "The Little Prince"
In 2020, we published a special book at TYPA - the English version of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved work "The Little Prince". The book's contents pages were printed on TYPA's vintage machines using historic letterpress printing techniques. The book was produced in a limited edition (350 copies), half of which were bound by hand in TYPA's binding studio.
Read more about the making of this rare book HERE.
Museum tour for 5 guests / virtual tour on request
The TYPA museum tour is an interactive guided tour of the museum. During the tour you will learn about paper's journey from China to Estonia, the origins of printing in Europe, our collection of wooden and tin typefaces, different printing presses and the art of binding. In addition, we'll try our hand at making paper, printing and demonstrating the different machines at work.
Workshop and team event at TYPA
TYPA workshops are a great opportunity to do something out of the ordinary with your colleagues and focus on creating together. Examples of workshops include Fabric Printing, Blind Embossing, Marbling, handmade paper making, linocut with blind embossing and colour printing and manhole cover printing.
In addition, the TYPA Centre is a creative and inspiring environment in which to organise a memorable team event - a training session, a team-building workshop or why not a Christmas party. For private events, there is a choice of a paper room, a printing room and a gallery.
Find out more about the workshops HERE.
TYPA gallery
TYPA main hall
TYPA paper hall
