Holiday card for Marpac Construction

2023.11.30

Two mounted and carved linoleum blocks laid out with two sheets of white paper printed in red and blue. The blocks are carved with different patterns that when combined produce the printed image on the top left sheet of paper. — I designed and carved two linoleum blocks for Marpac Construction's letterpress-printed 2023 holiday card.

Every year, local Seattle CID construction company Marpac Construction sends out holiday cards to customers, collaborators, and members of their community, and the company works with local Beacon Hill letterpress studio Day Moon Press to get them printed. This year, Marpac’s communication coordinator Gina approached me to design their card. I carved my design into linoleum blocks and Day Moon Press owner Tess LeNoir used those blocks to print the final holiday cards.

Just picked up all the cards from Tess and they look so good!!

—Gina Chaleunphonh, Communication Coordinator for Marpac Construction

I proposed three different ideas that met Marpac’s design direction. The chosen design incorporated three zodiac animals representing the previous, current, and following years. It included a visual reference to the architectural exterior of Uncle Bob’s Place (a Marpac project), as well as references to the trusses of construction cranes (carved into the blue rectangles). The card was a two-block design, with the two colors overlapping and mixing in a manner that’s unique to the blockprinting and letterpress printing process.

A hand holds up a partially carved block of mounted linoleum, where the outlines of three lanterns have been carved out but everything else is the smooth block (stained a dark grey). Wood-handled carving tools are visible behind.

A closeup view of a mounted block of linoleum with a single carving tool resting on top. The only carving on the block reads 'MARPAC' in reverse.

I carved the two linoleum blocks by hand. I’m especially proud of the sharpness and precision of the Marpac wordmark – carved in reverse so that it prints in the correct orientation. I proposed several different color combinations, and this red/blue combo is the one we decided to go with.

A book with examples of type of different fonts and sizes, surrounded by a Panton swatch book open to red and blue, surrounded by a printout of the card design, a carved linoleum block, and various other papers.

Several rectangular sheets of white paper printed with different test variations of the card design. A large cylinder press is visible in the background, surrounded by piles of paper and cases of type.

At Day Moon Press, I picked out Pantone swatches for the two-color design as Gina picked the font. Tess printed up a couple of samples that I checked for carving and alignment errors.

A platen letterpress machine; the ink plate is covered in red ink and a linoleum block is mounted in the press, also covered in red ink.

A glass table covered in piles of custom-mixed red and yellow letterpress ink. Tubs of other colors of ink sit on the back of the table.

Tess invited us back to the print studio on the day they started printing so that we could see the press in action and do a final sign off on the colors.

Gina and the crew at Marpac Construction were incredibly happy with the final cards; I was told they completely ran out of the ones they ordered because so many people wanted one!

A horizontal card propped open on top of a white envelope with Marpac's return address in red. The card is white with a red and blue illustration of 3 lanterns (depicting a tiger, rabbit, and dragon) against a geometric background. The card and envelope sit on a wood tabletop. — I designed and carved the linoleum blocks; Tess LeNoir of Day Moon Press did all the typesetting and printing.

A hand holds the card. The back of the card is visible and depicts a blue geometric design of rectangles and abstract construction crane trusses, with red text that reads 'Artwork and letterpress printing by local businesses Lauren Nishizaki Designs and Day Moon Press; laurennishizaki.com / daymoonpress.com'. — I designed and carved the linoleum blocks; Tess LeNoir of Day Moon Press did all the typesetting and printing.