About The Artisan Press

Formal Qualifications Bachelor of Arts Media Communications Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW. Trade Certificate Sheetfed Litho/Letterpress Printing Sydney Technical College, School of Graphic Arts. Textile Printing & Design Cert. School of Fashion & Design, East Sydney Technical College, Sydney. Printing Awards David M Graphics Award NSW nominee: for Outstanding Australian Printing Apprentice Australiasian Printer Magazine Award AASTA prize for Outstanding Printing Student First Place Printing Machining Trade Certificate In a quiet part of Lane Cove in Sydney, Australia if you listen carefully you'll hear the gentle rock and swoosh coming from a printing press made in 1898. Behind the old machine and its one tonne snapping jaw is Wayne Davis (pictured right), owner/operator of The Artisan Press. A print fanatic for over 20 years, Wayne founded The Artisan Press in 1999 after growing tired of designing and printing artwork that had been "Photoshopped" to death. A brief history Gaining entry into art school (UNSW COFA) in 1984, Wayne spent most of his time in the dusty old printmaking studios and got very bored in lectures about Post Modernism. Instead of lectures Wayne decided on a print trade. He was apprenticed to Master Printers – Ben Ponne (Holland) and Terry McGee (U.K) at the legendary Z. Nosek & Co based in Waterloo, Sydney. Nosek's was regarded as "the" Sydney record cover, poster and music industry printers during the mid '80s and early '90s. Sydney's frenetic independent music scene of the time meant that he printed covers for indie labels such as Red Eye, Aberrant, Shock, and Waterfront as well as major labels such as EMI, Studio 301, Warners, CBS, Virgin and many others. In a period regarded as the height of record cover art, it was a great grounding. Over 22 years Wayne has explored nearly every avenue of putting word and image onto paper. Graphic design, pre-press and platemaking, printing (offset, letterpress, gravure/intaglio, screen and digital), finishing and binding. An experienced graphic designer and pre-press operator with a BA in Media Communication, he can move from hand feeding a 100 year old printing press to recreating an illustration in Illustrator. Knowledge and technology is a great mix. Knowing how and when to use it is the key to how The Artisan Press operates. Drawing from over 500 years of techniques, Wayne can explain the benefits of a number of creative approaches to letterpress in layman's terms for a process that may be foreign in an age of digital print. He can demystify the process whether the client be a bridal couple seeking wedding stationery or the creative director of an agency. The Artisan Press is not some enormous anonymous corporation. It's a small and personalised studio with simple goals – the pursuit of beautiful printing, accurate and prompt service and the satisfaction gained from making something old – new again.