Les collections

Les Riso

A quick introduction. It’s a fascinating process! Risograph was invented in the mid-1980s in Japan. A Riso printer internally creates a stencil that is laid onto a drum filled with ink which then spins at high speed, forcing the ink through the stencil onto the paper. This process creates a unique textured print which is  exclusively spot colour based. Unlike digital printing, there is no option to print in standard ink colours like CMYK so the colours are limited to Riso ink spot colours and every print studio has its own unique set.

Riso inks are vegetable oil-based and dry through absorption into uncoated paper stock, it’s famous for its colourful and fluorescent inks which is definitely what initially drew me to it, so for instance a 2 colour art print will require 2 individual inks and 2 unique ink stencils are created for each colour to create the final print product.

I tend to be a perfectionist so Riso has taught me to embrace imperfections, it’s an inaccurate and unpredictable print process, it creates mis registration, smudging, and uneven coverage. The ink also never dries off completely so you have to be very careful when handling the print/card. All of this sounds negative at first I know, but honestly there is perfection to be found in imperfection. In a batch of the same design, no print will look exactly the same so your print will be unique, one of a kind.

With Riso it’s impossible to know what the print will look like until it’s actually printed. It doesn’t translate well digitally in terms of its colours/inks so even the beautiful photography I have for this collection can’t show the true vibrancy of the colours, you have to see it with your own eyes.