Visit Harrington & Squires Letterpress Printers & Designers in London (map)
Meet Chrissie Charlton and Vicky Fullick, the owners/designers
Find A small letterpress shop mixing old-world charm with a modern flair, located in a four-foot-wide storefront stacked three stories high (aptly named The Corridor). Inside are more than a dozen small printing presses, limited edition books, and accordion-style cards. Plus, their famous “Sneeze”, “Boo Hoo”, and “Atishoo” printed handkerchiefs line the walls, inviting you to buy them, and then check out how they are made in one of H&S’ weekly workshops.
The Backstory When Fullick went house hunting back in 2002, the then-graphic designer discovered an Adana, a twentieth century hobby press, nestled in the clutter of one potential home. She ended up talking the homeowner into selling her that instead of the house.
She and Charlton, a fellow graphic designer, immediately began experimenting with the eight-by-five-inch press. Using a small stack of dusty letterpress books Charlton happened to own, they figured out how to use the intriguing device. Though the two designers were accustomed to computers, not levers and handset type, they loved the change of pace.
“Seeing type in a metal form was very exciting,” Charlton says. “Printed type looks completely different from digital type. It isn’t flat or perfect. But it’s human.”
Before long, Charlton and Fullick began selling their new crafts—calendars, cards, and the like—at local book fairs once a week. By 2006, they had moved their workspace into The Corridor, a former pet shop and gallery (not at the same time), and named their new shop after Bob Harrington and Horace Squires, compositors and letterpress tutors at Hornsey College of Art in the late 1960s.
Despite their love of everything handmade, the duo holds onto their graphic design roots. They often design their products using high-tech programs and then go to town on their small army of clunky, ink-covered Adanas they recovered from homes across Britain. Their meticulous designs and imperfect type create surprising products that are both modern and vintage.
“We see a lot of people, including design students, going back to the old technology. It’s a way of breaking out of limits of computer. When you design and print, you have complete control over the process.” Fullick says. “People need and want to use their hands again.”
Not long after opening their doors, customers began to ask if H&S offered lessons. Why not?, they thought. “Now we can’t keep up the demand,” Charlton says. “We have to limit ourselves to holding workshops one day a week or we won’t finish any of our work.” Pupils range from locals to tourists from cities spanning Miami to Taipei.
“I wish we could say we had a business plan, but we really didn’t,” Charlton says. “It started as a fluke, or serendipity, and it has just evolved. Who knows what will happen next.”
Know of another great place to find collectibles that’s new or off the beaten path? Tell us at editors@thefineartoffamily.com
[Photography courtesy of Phil Grey and Alec Myers]
Published on March 10, 2010
While there are many sites today dedicated to the pursuit of fashion and style, here at MRK Style we approach these subjects through a collector’s lens. Through exploring how people relate to Art, Family, Fashion, Food, Film and Travel—essentially life’s various, everyday obsessions—we reflect on how we all live with the things we love. 
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