Today we’d like to introduce you to Talia Bromstad.
Hi Talia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was always a weird, creative kid, but it wasn’t until late high school that an art teacher encouraged me to explore art-making as a career path. I graduated from college in the midst of the Great Recession with a BFA in printmaking and book arts and felt overwhelmingly lucky to quickly land a job actually doing what I studied in school — letterpress printing.
My first order of business with my Big Girl Job was to get a cat. Before long, the job said, “You can design too, right?” and so I moved up to the office and spent my time surreptitiously googling Adobe InDesign tutorials. I would go on to do graphic design work for the next fifteen years, adding two more cats along the way.
The bulk of my career in design was spent at the Alliance Theatre, where I again felt lucky to create art in the service of art. But printmaking has always called to me — I love the process. So in 2020, I got back to my printmaking roots and bought a used risograph machine to make my own prints and calendars featuring illustrations inspired by my three cats.
I was happy to keep a steady job while running my printing business as a side hustle, making just enough money on it to fund my silly little projects, until one day in 2022, a switch flipped, and I found myself putting in notice at the theater to pivot to risograph printing full-time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The week I put in notice at my day job, my risograph machine broke. A tech came out to repair it, but left saying, “Well, it’s had a good run.” It couldn’t be repaired. To replace it with a new one would be a huge investment, one I had not been planning on. It felt like a test, like, OK, you quit your job, hope you are ready to really commit to this new path!
And I decided I was. It was one of those blessing-in-disguise moments because doing risograph printing full-time as your livelihood, you’re going to want a reliable machine, and my old used one really had been run into the ground. I was taking a leap already by leaving the comfort of my job, but getting a new, expensive piece of equipment at the same time made it even more real.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
First of all, I love cats. They are charming and a little absurd, not unlike risograph printing itself, which is a printing method sort of like screen printing but with a machine that looks like a photocopier. The prints that a risograph machine makes are riddled with slight imperfections like tiny misregistrations between layers and variations in color depth, but it is these imperfections that give a print its authenticity and tactility. No two prints are exactly alike!
I didn’t intend to make cats the star of the show. And for a while, they weren’t. I just liked making cute illustrations and designs and printing them in the vibrant colors that risograph is known for. When it was time to design the 2022 calendar though, I found myself with so many cat illustrations that I just decided to lean into it. Now, in addition to my annual cat calendar, I have a line of greeting cards that is probably 50% cat-themed. I know not everyone is as cat-crazy as myself so there are lots of other fun flora and fauna too.
The biggest compliment I have received since starting the business was from one of my stockists, Ashley Buzzy at Press Shop, who told me one day as I was dropping off a wholesale order, “You really get cats.” And I do! I get them and I love to draw their silly poses and print them in bright colors and pass on that delight to others.
Cats aside though, as a risograph printer I have the means to create a high volume of work, and I feel it is a responsibility to use that ability to further social progress. Last year during the Georgia governor’s race, I made over 1,500 posters in support of Stacey Abrams and gave them out free of charge to anyone who wanted one. I still see these up in windows around the city.
While the election didn’t turn out how I hoped, I was proud to have done something to further the cause. I believe we should all use our unique talents to make the world better, whether that is selling prints to raise money or just making a lot of something to get a message out there.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I would rather make things right than to be right.
Customer service with custom risograph printing can be tricky, because most people ordering prints are used to getting 100 of an identical thing. Risograph printing involves imperfection and unpredictability. The 100 risograph prints will all be slightly different. Even when you choose risograph printing for its unique charms, it can still come as a surprise when a print isn’t flawless like it might be in another print medium.
For this reason, I try to be accommodating and provide an experience that ultimately leaves the customer satisfied, rather than try to insist on why it is the way it is. If it means I have to reprint something, I’ll do that in order to make a customer feel heard.
I’ve worked with a lot of commercial printers throughout my design career, and to this day I remember the ones who treated me poorly versus the ones who provided a friendly experience. It is so true about people not remembering what you said or did, but remembering how you made them feel.
Pricing:
- Risograph Greeting Cards – $5.50 each
- Buy 6 Greeting Cards, Get 2 Free – Always!
- 1-color custom risograph prints start at $60
- 2-color custom risograph prints start at $92
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.bromstadprinting.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bromstadprinting.co/
Image Credits
Lacey Sombar Curtis
