Nordic Letterpress Network Exhibition: Gaada’s trip to Stockholm
The Nordic Letterpress Network exhibition drew to a close this week, so it’s about time we share a bit about Gaada’s recent trip to Stockholm for the opening weekend.
Earlier in the year, we were delighted to be invited to take part in the NLN exhibition, which aims to highlight how typesetting and letterpress printing are being used in contemporary print practice. The show included a really diverse range of work by over 60 letterpress practitioners from Nordic countries including five Shetland Artists: Michael Wiseman, Daniel Clark, Robbie Burns, Jono Sandilands and Issey Medd.
It's incredibly exciting to be included in this exhibition, and it emphasises the great value in Gaada’s work to facilitate endangered crafts such as Letterpress being practiced in Shetland.
As part of our Brigði programme, the trip was also a wonderful chance to strengthen our community's creative relationships with our Nordic neighbours - especially those in Norway ahead of the Brigði residency in 2026.
Taking in Stockholm
The first discovery in Stockholm was Fika, an inspiring Swedish tradition of taking a break over coffee and a cinnamon bun to pause and connect with each other - definitely something to bring back to Toogs Artist Workshop! We had a couple of days to explore Stockholm before the exhibition which were spent wandering, swimming, collecting new publications for the Island Zine Library and visiting the Moderna Museet. We saw Ghost and Spirit, a Mike Kelly exhibition and Yet Another Morning which was all about what drawing is and can be - with great interactive drawing prompts throughout! It was fantastic to immerse ourselves in a new place and exciting to travel from one archipelago to another!
Exhibition Opening + Artist Talk
The exhibition opening took place on the Friday evening at Grafiska Sällskapet Galleri. It was inspiring to see so many experimental approaches to letterpress: three-dimensional sculptures, textiles, film and interactive works like Imi Maufe’s Alphabet for Thinking Out Loud.
Some pieces used different parts of the letter press process to make prints like Carl Middleton's work using the actual furniture and √48.400 a massive patchwork piece by Marten Prei made from spacing and decorations.
A highlight was the selection of Letterpress books, such as Maev Lenaghan’s Dead as a Dodo and joyful collaborative publications from NLN trips and residencies over the past few years. Broken Word was a piece which caused quite a reaction. It was made with hot set metal type that they had set on a Linotype machine and then smashed up in place before inking it up and printing with it!
And of course it was wonderful to see and celebrate Michael and Daniel's work as part of the physical exhibition, as well as Robbie, Jono and Issey’s work displayed on the digital reel.
On the Saturday afternoon, we returned to the gallery for an Artist Talk with the NLN. The discussion emphasised a shared responsibility to support the future of Letterpress: fostering community, sharing knowledge and making the craft more accessible for the next generation of printmakers.
In the UK, letterpress printing is now on the Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts, so it was encouraging to be among practitioners and artists who were demonstrating its value and possibilities.
Letterpress Tours
The NLN also organised two Letterpress tours, led by Arina Stoenescu, a letterpress practitioner, educator and researcher.
In the morning we visited the Officina Typographica at Skansen, the world’s oldest open air museum, showcasing ways of life in Sweden before the industrial era. We were shown how traditional letterpress printing was being preserved here using original presses and type. We had seen a lot of inspiring experimental approaches over the weekend, yet it was satisfying to see how the fundamentals of the process remain unchanged: rolling ink onto raised type and making an impression on paper.
We also looked around the letterpress facilities at Konstfack (Sweden's largest university for arts, crafts and design). It was a huge space with loads of different presses and equipment. The Vandercook press in the studio was slightly broken and immediately different folk from the group were offering suggestions and tips for things to try to troubleshoot. This was such a great representation of what the Nordic Letterpress Network is all about - people coming together to help problem solve and share their knowledge.
We riffled through drawers of type - some of it was enormous! The absolute highlight was being shown a portable letterpress studio on wheels! The box unfolded into a fully functional setup, complete with a workspace for setting type, beautifully illustrated instructions, inks, rollers and a tiny press. It was like a magic show and emphasised the fun that you can have with Letterpress, and new exciting avenues being explored beyond the craft’s traditional starting point.
Made an impression…..
We’ve come back to Toogs Artist Workshop full of cinnamon buns and letterpress inspiration! More than anything, it was the people and community we met who made this trip so special.
Across the Nordic regions, there are so many exciting things happening in letterpress, thanks to friends and collaborators including:
Edward Johansson – hosting another NLN exhibition in Åland
Lina Nordenström – chats about residencies and collaborations
Camilla Gunnar – inspired by community-led workshops and safe spaces
Marit Brandsnes – travelling type across Norway
Imi Maufe – plotting a floating press between Shetland & Norway (with Daniel!)
Angie Butler – sending a haul of inspiring letterpress books for the Island Zine Library
Carl Middleton – an generous box of tools arrived at the Toogs Artist Workshop
And right here at Toogs, we’re more enthusiastic than ever to share our own curious corner of letterpress. We’re continuing research into Shetland’s printing history (stay tuned), and our next letterpress workshop is already open for booking!
A huge thank you to the Nordic Letterpress Network for such a cracking show and a fantastic weekend in Stockholm.
📖 Explore the Nordic Letterpress Network exhibition catalogue here.
The Brigdi programme is supported by funding from Creative Scotland.