This month we’re excited to present a selection of Risograph projects from members of our Official People of Print community. Risograph duplicators are renowned for delivering some of the best colour and texture you can find in print. The machine makes a ‘master’ stencil of the design and wraps it around the ink drum. The ink is then pushed through the stencil onto the paper as the drum rotates. Our members have experimented with this printing technique to create range of artworks, from zines, to greetings cards, and inspirational posters!
Tanya Brassie: Desert Textures Zine
Inspired by time spent in New Mexico, the Desert Textures zine is Tanya Brassie’s attempt to capture the beautiful desolation and abundant textures of the desert landscape in print. The pages are separated by hand cut inserts that strategically conceal portions of the pages beneath, intending to provide the reader with the same sense of mystery and adventure one has when roving through these otherworldly landscapes in the real world.
Lorna Robey: The Sun Will Rise Risograph Print with Golden Hour Co. 
Illustrated in warm, sunny colours, and Risograph printed with collage texture, this optimistic print is the perfect reminder in hard times that better times are just around the corner. A collaboration between two Leeds-based, women-run businesses: Illustrator and print designer Lorna Robey, and Earth-friendly aromatherapy inspired candle maker Christian of Golden Hour Co. The print features a collaged sunrise design and the mantra ‘The sun will rise, as surely as it sets’. Risograph printed by Footprint Workers’ Co-operative in Leeds, using vegan, soy-based inks and printed onto recycled 250gsm cardstock.
Abi Prints: Lighthouse Risograph
Fresh out of the Risograph printer is Abi Prints’ latest creation; Lighthouse. This A3, three coloured print captures a night scene under the stars, where the light from the lighthouse shines brightly in a metallic gold ink. Printed in Manchester at Chugga Press.
Melissa Donne: Risograph Mini Prints
A collection of bright, playful, and vibrant A6 Risograph prints, these pieces are part of an ongoing project focusing on botanical illustrations transformed by the Risograph printing process by Melissa Donne. The series pays particular attention to colour and texture, with intricate details which are perfectly realised. The project was printed by London based Risograph Studio, Earthbound Press.
Susan Yeates: Riso Printed Greetings Cards
In 2021, Susan Yeates created two series of greetings cards for the first time that blended block printing and Riso print. Entitled Fishes under the Sun, the collection features hand carved fish shapes and a red sun layer, and a collection of red and green retro Christmas images. The initial designs were created using block prints. These were then scanned, edited in Photoshop and Illustrator, and converted to Riso Print with help from the wonderful people at Wild Press.
Emmanuelle Orr: A Lockdown Discovery
Unable to go to her normal screen printing studio during lockdown in 2020, Emmanuelle Orr started experimenting with other printing techniques, and fell in love with the process of Risograph. “The vibrant colours, the gradients and overlays, the DIY feel, everything about risograph printing seduced me,” describes the printmaker. Riso printing is now a permanent part of Emmanuelle’s practice, occupying a different space to screen printing: more immediate, more playful but not less meaningful.
Studio Turbo: Yes You Can
Feeling inspired by the archetype of jerrycans, Raoul Wilke of Studio Turbo made this print as a visual reminder to himself to limit his use of plastics (and recycle). “Jerrycans come in 1001 cool shapes, pretty colours and sizes, BUT they also feel as a symbol of our disregard for nature,” says Raoul.
Sarah Wilson: Riso Cats
Last year, wanting to expand her practise more and experiment with different print methods, illustrator Sarah Wilson decided to explore the process of Risograph printing and working with digital layers to create a pair of joyful cats. She began by drawing up ideas on paper, and then moved to her screen and experimented with colours and opacities. She went for three colours: Black, Fluro Pink, and Red. Sarah worked with negative space for both prints, and tried to cross over the methods she’d typically use when painting to make the prints authentic to her style whilst being a completely new process. The pieces were printed by Chugga Press.
Drucken3000: Studies – A2 Riso collaboration between Yonil & Drucken3000
Studies is a collaboration between Tel Aviv based Artist Yonil and Berlin’s Drucken3000 Riso print studio. Warming up their new A2 Risograph. Studies was printed layer by layer in 5 bright Riso colours (yellow, fluorescent pink, aqua, red, and black) on Metapaper extrarough warm white 150 gsm in a limited edition of 70 and a format of 61 to 43 cm.
Irrelevant Press: Ghost Print
After following and admiring illustrator Ramon Keimig‘s work on Instagram for a long time from afar, finally, through DMs, Irrelevant Press created a relationship with the illustrator. This birthed a (now sold out) zine (Simulacra), and this print. Ghost Print is Risograph printed in black ink, on 80lb Classic Crest Earthstone cover.
OOAK: Risograph Fish
These two Risograph fish prints are the result of an online collaboration between POP Members Tine Kopplin and Steph Nierstenhoefer. Steph, based in New Zealand, was looking for an eco-friendly printing technique and reached out to Tine, based in Germany, for some professional input into Risograph printing. They experimented with several designs and colour combinations, but settled on an original photograph by Steph and choose Riso Gold and Yellow for the final limited edition print run. Prints are available through www.risolove.de.
VrijFormaat: Birds
Having been fascinated with birds and with a love for bird spotting since childhood, last year the idea came to VrijFormaat to make a series of bird illustrations to print on their Riso. The series starts with the birds they have spotted in their surroundings; birds that are common in and around the urban environment in the centre of the Netherlands. In combination with their lust for travelling, chances are that colourful species from completely different regions will also fly into the mix.
Fiona Quill: Limerick School of Art and Design Risograph Zine Project
During the lockdown of 2021, 28 students in Print from the Limerick School of Art and Design got together to do a Risograph project online. This project, inspired by People of Print’s Posterzine, comprises of 10 double sided Risographs, each in an edition of 40. The students formed 10 collectives to design and create these multi-themed prints, responding to their situations. These Riso works show the students tenacity and bond as group to keep producing in one of Europe’s strictest lockdown countries.
Atelier Hourra: From Ardèche With Love
This project by Atelier Hourra began with a missed deadline for an event poster; “We imagined a digital illustration created with minimalist shapes, looking for representing known aspect & object of a small town in our rural region : Ardèche (south-east of France). Once we created one (and that we missed the deadline), we didn’t want to stop there,” describe the studio. Thus, they created 3 more posters on 3 different towns, representing other aspects of the dolce vita in Ardèche. The resulting designs mix a vintage print aesthetic with the modernity of flat design and minimalism.
OKNO: Moonchild
Moonchild is OKNO’s take on The Neverending Story, but as a Japanese horror flick poster; “Did you notice that The Neverending Story is pretty damn dark?! Especially that scene with G’mork, ‘People have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams… people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control… has the power!'” The word ‘Moonchild’ comes from a pivotal part of the film (this is also what the Japanese characters translate to), while the opposite text reads ‘Antiquariat’ backwards – a reference to the original German book where the word appears like this on the opening page.
Check out more amazing projects by our community and apply to join at www.members.peopleofprint.com.
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