Broken Press Studio is a two-person team operating out of the backroom of a little house. More than just a
couple of modern day book mongers, all of the books we sell are hand bound by us, and we strive to retain
evidence of the process in each finished product. We incorporate found objects, paper, and ephemera with
unabashed enthusiasm and prefer to tear down our text block rather than cut them. The result is a truly
unique, fully operational mechanical object, prepared and waiting to be filled with any content that someone
may choose.
We met at UC Santa Cruz where Clay got his BA in Studio Art and Kara got the same in Art History. Seven
years later, three cities, one cat, one son, lots of fishes, and two graduate degrees later, Broken Press Studio
was born. By day Clay teaches lithography and Kara works at an art conservation center, but the magic really happens at night in the bedroom... where the studio is! Geez, this is a family establishment remember! We are pretty low tech, Clay likes to call us the garage band of book presses.
And what of the name you ask? Well, not long after the book binding bug bit Kara, did she decide she
NEEDED a nipping press. After long and hard Ebay searches, she found a deal that couldn"t be beat and
ordered a press from Hawaii. As fate may be it arrived broken, and thus the name BROKEN PRESS STUDIO.
Today we successfully use the press, but instead of a cast iron handle, we have a go-cart steering wheel that
Clay and Jackson savaged from the swap meet.
couple of modern day book mongers, all of the books we sell are hand bound by us, and we strive to retain
evidence of the process in each finished product. We incorporate found objects, paper, and ephemera with
unabashed enthusiasm and prefer to tear down our text block rather than cut them. The result is a truly
unique, fully operational mechanical object, prepared and waiting to be filled with any content that someone
may choose.
We met at UC Santa Cruz where Clay got his BA in Studio Art and Kara got the same in Art History. Seven
years later, three cities, one cat, one son, lots of fishes, and two graduate degrees later, Broken Press Studio
was born. By day Clay teaches lithography and Kara works at an art conservation center, but the magic really happens at night in the bedroom... where the studio is! Geez, this is a family establishment remember! We are pretty low tech, Clay likes to call us the garage band of book presses.
And what of the name you ask? Well, not long after the book binding bug bit Kara, did she decide she
NEEDED a nipping press. After long and hard Ebay searches, she found a deal that couldn"t be beat and
ordered a press from Hawaii. As fate may be it arrived broken, and thus the name BROKEN PRESS STUDIO.
Today we successfully use the press, but instead of a cast iron handle, we have a go-cart steering wheel that
Clay and Jackson savaged from the swap meet.