NEW YORK — Walk through the doors of Daniel Gardiner Morris’ Williamsburg, Brooklyn, letterpress studio and you may find yourself stepping back in time.

Letterpress, the 15th-century printing art of locking movable type into the bed of a press, inking it, and rolling or pressing paper against it to form an impression, is a family craft passed down to Morris from his great-grandfather. Now making his own impression in the industry, Morris decided to breath new life into the art by opening The Arm Letterpress, 281 N. 7th St., in 2005.

It wasn’t easy at first.

“I had to adapt a lot to find a way to make it work,” Morris said. “We’re in an expensive neighborhood, but there’s a lot of good energy here.”

The Arm is a public access letterpress studio, teaching facility and commercial print shop that attracts a variety of users. It houses equipment including Vandercook proof presses.

The users of the studio are typically artists, graphic designers, art directors, crafters, poets and musicians.

“Anyone who needs printed goods, but wants to take control of the process,” Morris said.

While it’s not as common as offset printing, letterpress printing uses high quality papers and inks to create especially lush impressions. The technique can be used for invitations, announcements or art projects and is easily recognizable by the raised impressions of the letters left on the backside of the printed product.

“We teach classes and workshops in the use of our machines and make the facilities available for artists and designers interested in using letterpress for their projects,” Morris said.

For more information about the studio and workshops, Morris can be reached at dan@thearmnyc.com or check The Arm’s website at www.thearmnyc.com.

The Arm uses EventWax!

Daniel Gardiner Morris — “Up to now, we have used EventWax exclusively for booking our classes. We run a basic intro class a few times a month and also some more specialized classes in advanced techniques, bookbinding, etc. We will soon be adding some salon style events and film screenings and plan to use EventWax to manage the reservations for those too.”

Event planning tip

Daniel Gardiner Morris — “I don’t know that I’d consider myself an event planner. But I’d say as long as what you have happening is worthwhile and you are hosting it in a location that is easy to access you should do fine if you can get the word out.”

Hey! If you would like your business, event planning service, or event featured in EventWax’s Spotlight, shoot Jen a request at jen@eventwax.com.