Together as Creative Emporium, they specialise in graphic design and letterpress. They collaborate well with designers to produce beautiful letterpress solutions, as well as designing and printing for clients direct.

How it all began… With no initial inkling to get into letterpress, Neisha’s partner Jamie bought her a mid-late 1800’s antique desktop press as an early Christmas present. It was only a week later that her good friend Lauren mentioned she would like to have a design studio of her own. And after attending some indie craft markets, Lauren mentioned that she wanted to try her hand at letterpress and silk screen printing.

Not long after, they found a Heidelberg for sale online in the local area and this started the ball rolling. They followed up on the 1973 Heidelberg Platen and bought it from a signage guy who was only using it for die cutting.

Their collection of equipment has grown from one press to two, both weighing approx 1.2tn each, one for A4 and one that prints up to A3, plus a small cast iron desktop letterpress, guillotine, some screen printing gear and a cupboard crammed with paper!

It was a pleasure to collaborate with Neisha & Lauren on the Design Montage postcards. Thank you ladies for a FANTASTIC job!

Creative Emporium’s new inner city studio

From mid-August, you can visit Neisha and Lauren in their studio at:

47c Caxton Street (Visitors entry off Weetman Lane)
Brisbane Qld 4000
http://www.creativeemporium.com.au/

In a few words, describe yourself…

Lauren: About 5’9” tall with big feet and drinks loads of water.

Neisha: l am a pointy-toed heel wearing blonde, with a gift of the gab – Most people know that I like to talk (perhaps too much!) With us, what you see is what you get! Particularly when you come to visit our studio and we are dressed in daggy printing clothes with no makeup!

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

L: Planning to take over the world with Letterpress!

N: Restoring a 1940’s Autovic press and organising our new Brisbane studio – we hope to be all moved in by mid August.

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

L: I find one piece of artwork whether it be a painting or a piece of packaging or a photo of any description that gives me that warm fuzzy feeling and think “I wanna do it like that!”

N: My morning coffee followed by researching design projects to help with inspiration before starting work. Nothing too exciting really!

What or who inspires you?

L: My Sausage Dog Dexter – he’s always happy, playful, forgiving and loving 100% of the day, I think we can all only aspire to be like that!

N: I have always drawn inspiration from my peers in the local design industry, I find that you don’t have to look far to find that there is so much great talent in Brisbane. After dealing with designers and printers in my previous job, it made me miss the hands on role of being a designer in a studio and inspired me to return to design and start our own business.

What are you most proud of?

L: I think that I am most proud of my thirst for life and wanting to find new and challenging ways to quench it.

N: Our new studio premises and my partner Jamie for being so supportive of our new business venture and encouraging Lauren and I to take the leap.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

L: Superman – I suppose Superwoman would’ve been more gender appropriate… but I don’t like wearing skirts.

N: Initially I wanted to be an artist but my art teacher told me that I wouldn’t make any money! So in Year 10 I decided to be a graphic designer, I strayed off the path for a while, but here we are!