Fiel Trip - Clove St Press

Clove st press was very small and quaint compared to some of the other places we went to. Its location is also very unusual. It's almost near the end of Morena blvd. so it's pretty easy to get lost if you don't know where you're going and don't keep going straight into the business warehouse area. Locating the business itself among the other similar looking buildings was a challenge of its own. That's why it surprised me when Daniel said he never self promoted, but always had a steady stream of clients and regulars. He said he'd obtain work mostly through word of mouth, so I was very impressed since his business is so far out and there are other printers in town to compete against. 

A lot of us were wondering how he was doing so well so he explained the type of printing he does. His business uses a lot of authentic, old school presses to achieve a sort of modernized version of the old typewriter/vintage style. When he first started his business, he knew he wanted to use old school presses and equipment, but didn't want to be lumped into other shops that used the same machinery for the classic, trendy vintage style. So instead, he decided to use it as inspiration and merge it with his own style as a graphic designer - clean, modern, and slightly sophisticated. He later showed us samples of work his company did for other brands and you could tell he nailed his style.

I thought it was cool that his company's style and way of printing is so unique, that he has pretty much no competition in town. He's made his way into a very specific niche and because of that, he has more freedom to choose his clients and the clients can't be too finicky or else they'll have a hard time finding the same type of business elsewhere.

Daniel was very kind and friendly as well as inspiring. His story is a prime example of how the field of graphic design can lead you down a different career path that is still connected to design in some way while being in a whole different world of its own.