Studio

Abi Heyneke visits Hooksmith Studio

posted by Marcroy March 20, 2014

Abi Heyneke is an illustrator who has made a habit out of snooping around creative workspaces and asking questions, so we asked her to visit a studio for us. She took a wonderful selection of pictures from her recent visit with Russell Frost, a letterpress printer and collector of antique wooden type and picture blocks who goes by the name Hooksmith and is based in East London.

Abi got to poke around his Leytonstone home studio and rifle through the drawers of type cases. Many of the blocks are over 100 years old and have survived years of industrial use and some neglect in recent times. One of his presses had been used to contain a fire for toasting marshmallows before he collected and restored it to working condition. All these wonderful artefacts are once more gainfully employed; printing posters, cards and prints under the Hooksmith brand.