ABOUT ME
Hello, I am Emma, Mother, wife, designer, business owner and creative.
Based in rural Wiltshire, I run my studio from our home, surrounded by the beautiful English countryside, a great source of inspiration for me.
My love for all things design started at a young age but has taken me down various different paths along my career so far. Initially studying Fashion Design at university, I went on to work for a number of British high street brands before discovering the art of letterpress in my spare time. I joined a letterpress workshop locally and found myself hooked!
I have always been drawn towards heritage crafts and I fell in love with the history of letterpress, getting my hands dirty and creating something beautiful from a 100+ year old machine that has so many stories to tell.
It wasn’t long before ‘Emma Bradstreet Paper & Press’ was born.
There is something special about letterpress printing that has stood the test of time. I have always been drawn towards a more subtle, paired back aesthetic and when this is married with the beautiful method of letterpress printing, it really makes your wedding stationery come alive.
I now help couples seeking beautifully crafted wedding stationery, elegantly designed with a hint of paired back minimalism and romantic softness. My couples appreciate and value the unique specialness of this hand crafted process and are looking to create treasured keepsakes that begins the story of their wedding day and tells the tale of them as a couple.
ABOUT LETTERPRESS
Letterpress is a form of relief printing where a text or image is pressed into the surface of the paper creating a beautiful, tactile de-boss.
Letterpress printing was the normal form of printing from the mid-15th century until the 19th century. It is a process that is completed entirely by hand so it is a less favoured form of printing today and as a result has been listed by the Heritage Crafts Association as an endangered craft.
The process begins with a drawing or text which is digitised and created into a photopolymer plate (like a sort of plastic stamp). The photopolymer is mounted on the press and as the inked rollers pass over it and the platen closes the design is pressed into the paper and a beautiful impression is left behind.
It is a very slow, methodical process with each piece of paper being individually hand fed and each colour printed one by one.
It is a labour of love but that is what makes it so special. All letterpress printing is done in house using our antique British printing press.
