During my travels around the Pacific Northwest, I was eager to visit the CC Stern Type Foundry – a not-for-profit working letterpress museum in Portland, Oregon, with the aim of preserving the heritage of America’s typecasting industry.

Letterpress printing was a relief printing technique dating back to the 15th century, enabling repeated impressions of an inked surface on a continuous roll of paper. A typesetter would arrange each individual letter cast onto a bed, a system known as Moveable Type.

It was quite fascinating to see the process, and acknowledge how far typography has come – the attention to detail needed isn’t always there in my generation of designers.

If you’re in Oregon, make sure to visit CC Stern Type Museum for an insightful – they are open the 3rd Saturday of each month.