Classic Letterpress

At Classic Letterpress we produce fine press books, stationery and broadsides. We also print the highest quality business cards, greeting card lines, invitations, wine labels, and so much more. Our clients include graphic designers, design firms, print brokers, greeting card companies, other printers, and individuals who want to hire us for design and printing. We also teach classes, train printers and offers internships. Equipment in the shop include a 18x23 KSBAZ Heidelberg Cylinder, 10x15 Heidelberg Platen (Windmill), Vandercook SP-15, photopolymer platemaker, paper cutter, and foundry type. Our owner and master printer, Norman Clayton, has been printing letterpress and designing for over 25 years. He studied typography and photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, and graduated in 1990 with a suitcase full of books he designed, printed and bound by hand. For 12 years, beginning in 1991, he was the printer and manager of One Heart Press in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2006, Jim Wehlage sold Classic Letterpress to Norman which included Adrian Wilson's KSBAZ Heidelberg Cylinder, stone, and a portion of Adrian's library. In 2010, he moved his family and letterpress shop to the beautiful Ojai valley in Southern California. Norman continues working happily, with a view of the mountains, as a printer, typographer and teacher. We'd love to work with you on your next project, no matter if it is fully designed, or just an idea. And we're always happy to drop a folder full of beautiful samples in the mail. Just ask!