From the Original Heidelberg
by Daria Hirny

From The Original Heidelberg is a compilation of scraps of print ephemera from an unlikely source: the oily depths of a 1965 original Heidelberg printing press. The incomplete designs reference commercial work completed over the press’ lifespan, in the creation of commercial stickers, advertisements and custom design work. These designs were used to create a Publication Studio Edmonton publication and a letterpress print edition.

The book From The Original Heidelberg takes you through a history of the press as Hirny chronologically re-assembles the prints found within the press itself, left behind. Hirny captures the translucent, onion-like quality the paper adopted from the oil it was bathed in. These fragile print fragments are transcribed, and documented both recto and verso.

Daria Hirny is an Edmonton based artist and printmaker with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Alberta. She has completed an internship in the printmaking facility at The Banff Centre. With the acquisition of a Heidelberg printing press, Hirny has developed a letterpress company, homeworkpress, with a focus on high quality printing in the Edmonton region.