The Glasgow School of Art’s unique printing and typesetting facility The Caseroom celebrates 60 remarkable years, preserving traditional craft while encouraging contemporary innovation, with exhibition of staff and student works The Glasgow School of Art’s specialised printing and typesetting facility The Caseroom, part of the GSA’s School of Design, celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025 with an exhibition The Caseroom: 60 Years of Letterpress etc. at The Glasgow School of Art. The exhibition will bring together works by current and former students as well as staff and a wide range of professional collaborators. It will run from the 8 – 26 of February in The Reid Building Ground Floor Corridor Gallery space and launches a year-long programme of commemorative events.
The Caseroom was established in 1964 by staff supported by Douglas Percy Bliss, director of The Glasgow School of Art from 1946 to 1964. His background as a wood engraver likely influenced the decision to establish a facility for traditional forms of printing and typography techniques. Its very name reflects this historical link, drawn from a printer’s term dating back to the nineteenth century, the word Caseroom is taken from the drawers, known as ‘cases’, in which the individual typesetting letters were kept.
The Caseroom was an integral part of Bliss’ vision for the GSA – a modernist, progressive egalitarian vision that championed “useful” arts, which could be applied to anything, by and for anyone. Since its creation, The Caseroom has not only become a key resource for students and the wider Glasgow arts community, but also an important centre of printing and typesetting knowledge across the UK. The Caseroom’s various printing presses (the oldest of which dates from the mid 19th century) and extensive collection of metal and wood type letters and fonts comprises the most significant collection of letterpress printing equipment in a higher education institution in Scotland. It is incredibly adaptable and diverse in its manufacturing processes and design approach, weaving traditional craft with innovative contemporary methods. Fundamental to its working is the importance of collaboration, of working together within the space, steeped in a rich material experience that fosters the possibility of ‘the unexpected’ in the making process.
The Caseroom provides areas of expertise delivered to both students and external arts organisations and individuals; a focus on letterpress printing, which involves using raised metal or wooden type to create impressions on paper; various relief printing techniques, including Lino cutting, polymer plate printing, bookbinding and experimental book design, large format printing, traditional hand printing methods such as woodcut printing, risograph printing and ersatz print ephemera like typewriters, stencil cutters and badge-making equipment.
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