Interview with designers The Hungry Workshop
In their short time collaborating together at The Hungry Workshop, they have been a part of many great projects. The Queenslake exhibition raised $10,000 for the The Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal with the sales of letterpress prints from several Queensland designers and illustrators. You can still purchase prints from this exhibition in their online store.
The Hungry Workshop were commissioned to create a giveaway sketchbook for Raleigh Paper’s annual Mohawk Show. Their creation, Aim True, involved two passes of fluorescent inks and one pass of black ink — for three different colour combinations. See this promotion above in their showcase.
Aim True – Letterpress giveaway for Raleigh Paper’s Mohawk Show.
Hear from Simon and Jenna below…
How did The Hungry Workshop come about?
We’ve always loved print, the ability to design something and see it all the way through to the finished product really sparked something in us. We like getting our hands dirty, up to our elbows in ink and oil, and having control over every aspect of a job, from paper to ink to the impression of the print is ideal for us as designers. The whole process is very tactile, something that we didn’t have working at a computer day in and day out.
Describe your journey up to getting started with The Hungry Workshop…
It all started with our wedding invitations. Even though we both had been working in similar fields for many years we hadn’t really collaborated until then. From there, we realised that we could make a go of this. We had such a positive response to that first job that it started gaining momentum from the beginning.
Simon and Jenna’s wedding invitations.
Seven with Another collaborative exhibition invitation.
In a few words, describe yourselves…
Jenna is the brains, the quality control, and the finisher. She has amazing attention to detail and makes sure everything is beyond perfect. On the press she makes all the fine adjustments, hand mixes the ink, and makes sure there are none of Simon’s grubby fingerprints on the clean paper.
Simon is the brawn, the heavy lifter, and the starter. He gets each project going and makes sure the big ideas are consistent throughout. On the press, he masters the paper feed, controls the impression, and makes the machine go.
We are an awesome team with complementary skills.
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
We are designing quite a few wedding invitations, printing business cards for other designers, and working on a stationery range.
Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?
We had quite a long drive when we were learning to print, and our broken car stereo meant that we had to talk a lot. We found that it was a really good place to zone out and brainstorm together. It seemed like a good habit so now most of our brainstorming is done on the move, wether we go for a walk or a drive. Minimising distraction is key to a good brainstorming session, getting up and away from the computer.
Letterpress prints for Stop flooding my record collection exhibition after the Brisbane floods.
What or who inspires you?
This is a really tough question, it’s really impossible to pinpoint something specific.
We surround ourselves with good people who are creative, funny and witty, we buy good food (and wine) with nice packaging, we visit good galleries with interesting art, we collect old books with fine type and illustrations, and we read good blogs with intelligent commentary on design.
I guess the theory is if we surround ourselves with enough good some of it will rub off onto us, and then hopefully onto others.
Australia has phenomenal talent, you don’t have to look very far to see incredible work. So everyone in the design industry is already surrounded by good, if you want inspiration – just get amongst it.
What are you most proud of?
We are most proud of our printing press, it was an incredible find, at the perfect time. It runs like a dream and is (mostly) very well-behaved.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Jenna: A costume designer for Broadway shows.
Simon: A Ninja Turtle.
