A printing press
On the last Sunday of January ‘23 we set out to bring home a tiny but heavy printing press
We were almost certain that we would be able to load it into the car. We had a contraption on wheels and various straps to secure the vintage press and hoped for the best. Up ahead a vintage mustard Mini Cooper appeared before us. We followed it in the winter sunshine until it veered off to the left.
We continued on our way to Exarcheia. We arrived at Kallidromiou street and paused for a moment outside a cafe. Contented Sunday chatter filled the air. Moving forward a towering stone building drew my eyes upwards to a bright blue sky. We had arrived at Evangelia Biza’s bookbinding studio.
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I had visited Evangelia the week before to have a first look at the press. She was in the midst of preparations for her exhibition “Evangelia Biza - Unfolding” celebrating her bookbinding career at the National Library of Greece, curated by her friends and colleagues. A member of the team was there to help Evangelia choose from her huge archive and another arrived to carry out a photoshoot.
It felt good to be back in the studio where I had taken my first lessons in bookbinding and it was wonderful to see all of Evangelia’s beautiful books and cyanotypes laid out on the table and to hear her stories.
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We entered the studio and Evangelia greeted us in her woollen purple coat. The press was sitting on a shelf under the huge table. We admired the press while Evangelia told us a little about its history. She said that the press was over 100 years old and she showed us the beautiful metal plaque on the press with the words EMIL KAHLE Maschinenfabrik LEIPZIG-REUDNITZ. Evangelia showed me how the chase was held in place on the press. The chase made a satisfying metallic clunk as it slotted in place. The press was rusty and I promised to keep her updated with its restoration. Wishing her the best with her exhibition we loaded the press into the car and went home with our precious cargo.
http://evangeliabizabookbinding.blogspot.com/
Evangelia’s exhibition was wonderful. My favourite were from her personal work. Beautiful deep blue cyanotypes with flowers floating from the ceiling. It was good to see so many people gathered to celebrate Evangelia and her work.
This diary is dedicated to the memory of Evangelia Biza.
