In 2013 Delia & Tudor (Petrescu Press) start producing wood type for letterpress printers, through the company Wood Type Customs, after 9 years they open the first Working Printing Museum in Romania, Sibiu – MATS.
If you want to meet us, please visit our blog, or keep reading. Thank you!
Bio Delia
¶ Designer maker ¶ Print maker ¶ Typeface maker ¶ Wood type maker ¶ Architect ¶
& Geometrical designs addict
Bio Tudor
¶ Wood type maker ¶ Designer maker ¶ Print maker ¶ Architect
& Gardening enthusiast
Memberships
AEPM (Association of European Printing Museums)
CPHC (Centre for Printing History and Culture)
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Petrescu Press Testimonials
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CAROLINE ARCHER-PARRÉ – CPHC Executive (Centre for Printing History & Culture) – Birmingham, UK
” ¶ An endangered craft on the Heritage Craft Association’s Red List (UK), it is estimated that in another generation letterpress will have disappeared: letterpress faces an uncertain future.
Museums and heritage organisations play an integral role in the preservation and conservation of the artefacts and skills of letterpress. The Muzeu Atelier Tipografie (MAT’S Museum), Sibiu, is well placed to balance the important (and necessary) task of conserving the historical significance of its letterpress collection and highlighting its role in the history of printing in Romania, whilst at the same time promoting the contemporary relevance of the collection to new audiences and realising the opportunities the collection presents.
¶ The Muzeu Atelier Tipografie, Sibiu is a small but significant typographic museum that recognises the inheritance of letterpress, both in its material form of presses and type and in the less tangible heritage of skills and experience. The Muzeu functions as a guardian of typographic heritage, but it also aspires to be a visitor attraction, through demonstrating the presses at work, exhibition spaces, and providing students of graphic design with hands-on printing workshops and education programmes thereby ensuring that letterpress is not simply the subject of museum curation but a living process that can be sustained in the future.”
Richard Ardagh – Graphic designer – London, UK
“¶ Delia and Tudor Petrescu have breathed new life to a fabrication method that had almost entirely ceased to exist. As a medium, letterpress had been constrained to the past due to the decline of industries providing for it, meaning that its primary tool (typefaces) had not been updated for almost 100 years. By introducing custom digital technology Wood Type Customs reinvented the once labour-intensive production line of wood type manufacture, enabling digital files from modern design programs to be fed directly to a CNC wood router, bringing speed and proficiency to the process. The production of movable type demands accuracy similar to precision engineering and Wood Type Customs have become known for their high quality output. They are one of only a handful of manufacturers of wood type operating globally and of the highest repute in Europe.”
George A. Walker – Book Artist – Toronto, Canada.
“Tudor and Delia are treasures in the letterpress community. Their care and attention to detail, in all their products, is evidence of their artisanal approach to everything they create. You won’t be disappointed with their work and if you are like me, will be a repeat customer.”
Martin Majoor – Type Designer – Arnhem, Netherlands.
“I had always associated wood type with the old fashioned arts and crafts. But since I know the work at Wood Type Customs I am overwhelmed with the sheer quality of the types they produce. The combination of professionel 3D computer generated drawings and the highly skilled carving techniques makes their wood types outstanding.”
Richard Kegler, from P22 – Designer – Rochester NY, USA
“Delia and Tudor Petrescu of Wood Type Customs offer a unique service to letterpress printers. While located outside of the current hot-spots of various letterpress “scenes”, their personal attention to customer service and ease of shipping from Romania make them a great and accessible resource for in-stock purchase of new wood type and custom production of complex wood type projects.”
Marijane Curry, Butterfly Letterpress – Letterpress printer – Madison, WI USA.
“I highly recommend Wood Type Customs for all your custom letterpress needs. They have designed an Art Nouveau Border, Assab Futurismo, and Carnera Pugno typefaces, and 18 Multi – Colored Butterflies for me when all I had was a picture of my idea. The wood creations are one of a kind, and very much appreciated by me, I do not know what I would do without them.”
Thomas Gravemaker, from Letterpress Amsterdam – Letterpress printer and Graphic designer – Netherlands
“ ¶ I had samples made by a few people, printed with them and compared the quality and the finish. I decided to work with Tudor and Delia Petrescu from Wood Type in Romania, as they supplied me with the best samples.“
Press appearances
September 30, 2023, Ora de Sibiu – Topic: 1 An Muzeul de Tipografie
May 13, 2023, Sibiu 100% – Topic: Noaptea Muzeelor
February 10, 2023, Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Rumänien – Topic: „Bei uns geschieht Wiedergeburt von Buchstaben!“
December 01, 2022, Capital Cultural No. 33 – Topic: MATS – Muzeu Atelier Tipografie Sibiu,
October 27, 2022, Sibiu 100% – Topic: “Atunci când pasiunea ta devine un muzeu al orașului: Muzeu Atelier Tipografie Sibiu”
October 04, 2022, Radio România Cultural, Oraşul vorbeşte (Oana Ciucă Lazăr) – Topic: Audio, “Stop urban. Muzeu Atelier de Tipografie din Sibiu”
September 23, 2022, Strada cetăţii – Topic: “Primul muzeu-atelier de tipografie din România, deschis la Sibiu!”
September 21, 2022, Turnul Sfatului – Topic: Video, “Primul muzeu de tipografie din România s-a deschis la Sibiu”
September 21, 2022, Turnul Sfatului – Topic: “Un cuplu din Sibiu are o afacere unică în România. „Ce facem acum este un vis”
September 21, 2022, Turnul Sfatului – Topic: “Cel mai nou muzeu al Sibiului. „Un proiect la care lucrăm de nouă ani”
September 20, 2022, Ora de Sibiu – Topic: “VIDEO FOTO Premieră la Sibiu – Muzeul Tipografiei se deschide pe strada Ocnei”
September 19, 2022, Strada cetăţii – Topic: “Muzeu. Atelier. Tipografie. O premieră pentru Sibiu și România”
September 14, 2022, Turnul Sfatului – Topic: “Doi arhitecți deschid un muzeu de tipografie în centrul Sibiului. Una dintre tipografii este mai veche decât Podul Minciunilor”
June 01, 2022, French Graphic Design Association Graphê magazine – Topic: “Petrescu Press des caracteres en bois … contemporains!”
March 08, 2022 – Zetafonts TypeTrends Lookbook Catalog 2022 – Topic: About Petrescu Press
February 10, 2021 – Graphic Front – Topic: The Petrescu Press Story
March 13, 2019 – Print Mag by Steven Heller – Topic: Bifur Typeface
About Wood Type Customs
Petrescu Press has been producing Wood Type for letterpress printing since 2013. Our Wood Type collection consists of: 78 Typefaces, 30 Manicules, 61 Sets Ornaments, 13 Sets Borders, 12 Holiday Sets Items, 23 Different Stars, 99 Graphic Sets Elements, 15 Catchwords, and 12 Heraldry Wooden Blocks.
In our Wood Type collection we have Serif Typefaces (Old Styles, Didone, Slab, and Clarendon), Sans Serifs (Grotesque, Modular and Geometric), Calligraphic (Blackletter and Casual Script) but also Decorative (American Style and Geometric) Anthropomorphic, Monospaced, Banner, Reverse Contrast, Chromatic & Eco Typefaces. The writing systems in which our typefaces are classified are Latin alphabets, Devanagari System, Chinese characters, Cyrillic scripts and Hebrew/Yiddish are currently in the works. Our typefaces find their lines in artistic movements like: Gothic, Arts and Crafts, Etruscan, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, De Stijl, Futurism, Academic, Suprematism, International Typographic Style etc.
Additionally, our company specializes in Custom 3D computer design (CAD&CAM) CNC wood carving, for any style typefaces, ornaments, patterns, borders, logos, architectural elements etc, for new original designs or replicas of historical types.
Counting hundreds of Custom Orders – serving an international clientele highlighted by the following designers: Erik Spiekermann, Richard Kegler, Martin Majoor, Jos Buivenga, Dan Rhatigan, Rod McDonald; Museums: Skansen – Officina Typographica, Industrie Museum Gent, Pavillon – Presse Weimar, Tipoteca Italiana; Universities: Glasgow School of Art; Rutgers University; Temple City Unified School District, Letterpress Printers: Marijane Curry, Luise Valentiner, Amanda Tomlin, Thomas Gravemaker, Tim Dunn, Mika Fowler, Yao Yu, David Armes, Matt Tilbury, Alan Runfeldt, Chad Danieley, The Counter Press; Richard Ardagh. Book Artist: George A. Walker; Traditional Handbook Binders: Bert Rigters; Graphic Designers: Pierre Pané-Farré, Josef Beery, Carl Middleton, Kimya Gandhi & Rob Keller, Paul Crawley, Julie Bellier & Catherine Staebler, Kristína Uhráková, Ivan Zatko, Bookstore: Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus, Type Foundries: FontShop, Monotype, P22, CommercialClassics, MotaItalic, ZetaFonts.
For Custom Orders please use the Custom Order form.
Goal
As architectural restorers, passionate about letterpress printing, we want to preserve the history and craft of traditional printing. We aim to merge the craft tradition with modern technology.
Our ultimate goal is to contribute to revive the Art of Letterpress printing by finding beauty in traditional printmaking techniques in today’s digital era.
Strategy
Continuous improvement of production process time, switching from tool to machine & making new products.
This company works to recreate the tools needed in the printing process, facilitating the access for graphic designers and fine arts printers, to these necessary means.
News
According to the Heritage Crafts Association UK in 2019, Letterpress have been listed as endangered craft. The main causes are the small number of letterpress practitioners in the world, who no longer transmit the art of craft to future generations.
History
Around 1040, the first known movable type rotary system, was invented in China by an artisan, Bi Sheng, with type pieces made of porcelain, which broke easily, but in 1298 Wang Zhen began to produce type from wood, more economical and sustainable.
Instead in Europe only around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg, a German inventor, printer, publisher and goldsmith developed European movable-type, the printing press and the following: 1. die-cast and hand-die casting 2. type pieces made from an alloy of lead, tin, antimony, copper and bismuth 3. adapt to screw press 4. use oil-based ink and 5. create softer more absorbent paper.
From then until the 20th century, letterpress printing remained the most common method in the production of books, magazines, newspapers, etc., until the second half of the 20th century when offset printing expanded and encompasses any traditional form of printing.
The craft and technique of letterpress printing have survived due to the devotion of the letterpress artisans, who seek to save, preserve and enrich this craft for future generation.
Worldwide there are very few Wood Type makers for letterpress printing, which is why this feature makes Petrescu Press unique as the holder of the largest collection of contemporary Wood Type in the world. Collection containing unique wood type as FF Real Wood Type custom made for typeface designer Erik Spiekermann; Goluska Wood Type custom made for book artist George A. Walker; Questa Wood Type custom made for Thomas Gravemaker; or new wood type custom made after historical typeface Bifur designed by A. M. Cassandre in 1929 in collaboration with Richard Kegler of P22; and much more.
If you want to support wood type makers you can visit our Support page or you can buy something from our Shop. Thank you!
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Petrescu Press Portfolio
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March 27, 2021 – Stinger Wood Type, in collaboration with Zetafonts;
March 18, 2021 – Scala Manicule Wood Type Project, in collaboration with Martin Majoor;
April 20, 2020 – Slovak Wood Type with diacritics, in collaboration with Pressink, The Žurnál;
January 27, 2020 – Chikki & Pufff typeface in collaboration with MotaItalic
May 01, 2019 – Goluska Wood Type in collaboration with George Walker & Rod McDonald;
April 18, 2018 – Caslon Rounded in collaboration with The Counter Press;
December 01, 2018 – Bifur Wood Type in collaboration with P22;
September 17, 2018 – Ryman Eco Wood Type in collaboration with Dan Rhatigan at Monotype;
September 09, 2017 – Wood Type for Beginners, in collaboration with Julie Bellier & Catherine Staebler, at Atelier bipoint;
August 21, 2017 – Questa Grande Wood Type for LetterpressAmsterdam in collaboration with Martin Majoor & Jos Buivenga;
July 13, 2016 – FF Real Demi Bold Wood Type, in collaboration with Erik Spiekermann;
June 05, 2016 – Assab Futurismo Wood Type in collaboration with MariJane Curry & Gregory Walters;
September 01, 2015 – Arts and Crafts Wood Type in collaboration with P22;
May 01, 2015 – FF Real Wood Type Project in collaboration with Erik Spiekermann & Ralph du Carrois;
