Dry Inc.

Dry Inc. is a letterpress-centred enterprise from Richard Kegler. Operating as both a letterpress printing studio and letterpress tool supply company, Richard focuses on post-digital printing, typography, and new printing tool development. He formed P22 Type Foundry back in 1994 and was a co-founder of the WNY Book Arts Center in Buffalo, New York. From 2014-19, he was the director of the Wells College Book Arts Center in Aurora-on- Cayuga, NY. Richard has spent his career combining an interest in traditional printing crafts with entrepreneurial initiatives, and his artwork over the last 40 years has used hand printing and book arts as a focal point.

The first side of Dry Inc. is a letterpress printing studio where Richard primarily prints on a Vandercook Universal III press. His subject matter varies, but mainly centres on typographic abstraction using vintage wood type and found advertising imagery blocks. Richard prints the occasional carved block or gig poster, but most of the works made at Dry Inc. are explorations into form and colour with no obvious narrative intention. However, as Richard states; “There are a few categories of prints that fall outside of this deliberate avoidance of direct reference and even embrace it enthusiastically”. For example, prints such as I saw the figure 5 in Pantone 874, We’re so sorry Josef Albers, and Aurora Boogie Woogie are direct nods to Charles Demuth, Josef Albers, and Piet Mondrian respectively. The imperfections and wood grain in the found blocks and wood type are brought to the forefront with inking that enhances the textures in the blocks. The back sides of the blocks are used for textural fields, and Richard builds up multiple layers with transparent and opaque inks, giving a variety of matte and gloss textures within a single print.

The second side of Dry Inc. is an “accidental” letterpress tool supply company. “The initial intention was to make items for personal use,” says Richard. He continues; “Although the worldwide audience is still somewhat limited, there seemed to be plenty of printers who also had an interest in these tools.” Practical considerations of start-up costs made crowd sourcing an easy answer for how to get the word out and distribute for the first idea: P22 Blox (P22 type foundry was the incubator that gave form to Dry Inc.). P22 Blox is based on earlier modular printing blocks but comes with a contemporary twist; it is made from injection moulded plastic. The P22 Blox have become a popular teaching tool in design and printmaking programs that have a letterpress component.

Much like P22 Blox, Dry Inc’s. tools are mostly based on hard-to-find historical tools. These include items such as a Type Gauge Multi tool (initially laser cut in acrylic, now made in steel through tool manufacturer), a 3D printed Rotary Angle Chase, a Printer’s Apron, and a 3D printed Dry Dock modular print hanging system.

Currently, Richard is working with his brother on a book of their late Father’s WWII stories which features contributions from 20 illustrators. Included in the book is a sheet of faux postage stamps (designed by Aaron Draplin) that he is letterpress printing on gummed stock with hole perforations.

The time that Richard has spent on tool development for Dry Inc., has consequently taken a lot of printing time away from him. Now that the studio is fully developed and in-place, he is looking forward to the Spring and spending more time printing on a regular basis.

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