What is Riso printing?

Developed as an evolution of the mimeograph, the Risograph duplicator gave rise to the term risography. This is a Japanese technology increasingly used by artists, designers and publishers around the world to materialize their creative works. Peculiar features of the printed results are Riso’s own vibrant colors, in addition to the textures obtained from oily ink absorbed by the paper, which gives artistic works a handmade appearance, composed of stains, nuances, layers of colors and even displacements generated by overlays.

Autonomy for publishing and experimenting are the most attractive possibilities of Riso printing.

Riso Kagaku Corporation created the Risograph digital duplicators in Japan in the 1980’s, as an alternative for high-speed printing medium and large scales. Target consumers were companies, offices, other private institutions or schools. Some years later, independent artists discovered this equipment as a tool to publish their own works. The duplicator allowed these creators to print more easily by themselves, replacing manual processes, and to develop their skills from using the machine even for modifying its original function.

The pioneer in the use of Riso printing for creative purposes is the group Knust, from the Netherlands, guest of this edition of Faísca. The collective acquired its first digital duplicator (of the Ricoh brand) in 1992 and the group has continually improved its knowledge, mastering the technique, therefore also taking the whole risography production forward.

In the late 2000’s, several specialized in Riso studios were opened around the world, a creative phenomenon that has grown especially in the last decade. Artists or designers are usually the ones who manage these workspaces. They explore experimentation and innovation, by studying and implementing modifications using this autonomous way of printing.











Pages of  “Fúria” Ko Zine, by Bruno Rios and Matheus Ferreira (Prumo), printed and published by Knust

These machines were designed for monochrome printing. Therefore the registration of each color is done separately, which means that the paper needs to be put back in the duplicator for each desired color layer to be printed. There are also two-color Riso equipment for stencil printing (allowing the paper to come out of the machine with two colors printed per passage). Overlays can generate new colors, as well as misalignments that come from the repositioning of the paper. The misprints are often used as part of the graphic experimentation process, as well as the stains generated by the ink density, which does not dry completely. Each ‘copy’ turns out to be different from the next.

Riso inks are nontoxic, based on soybean or rice bran oil. Stencil printing duplicators produce low amounts of waste, in addition to consuming little electric power compared to other methods, which makes the process environmental-friendly. It is a permeographic process, in which the ink is pushed through the perforated area of a master or stencil (sheet used as a template for creating copies) to reach the paper.







Pages from “Magical Octopus” (Jan van Eyck Academie & various authors)
a margem ; press / Riso Ativa

a margem ; press /
Riso Ativa

Brazil
a margem ; press / Riso Ativa

a margem ; press /
Riso Ativa

Brazil

Coordinated by léo and júpiter91, a margem ; press is an editorial platform from Salvador, Brazil, which embraces manual practices, graphic and experimental production. It questions the formality in Architecture and in Visual Arts. They work in collective processes around the possibilities brought by Riso and silkscreen printing. Together with Lanussi Pasquali, Léo also coordinates Riso Ativa, founded in 2017 as a part of Ateliê Ativa, which works in order to amplify the knowledge and the use of the Risograph in Salvador. They work with the RISO MZ 790U duplicator and have 5 colors.

Amir Brito Cadôr

Amir Brito
Cadôr

Brazil
Amir Brito Cadôr

Amir Brito
Cadôr

Brazil

Amir Brito is an artist, founder of the small press Edições Andante, and a teacher of Graphic Arts at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, UFMG. He has been a researcher on artists’ books since 2004. He has addressed this theme in courses and lectures in many Brazilian cities and in Brisbane, Australia. He has been curator of several exhibitions, in Cultural Centers, libraries, galleries and museums. Amir is the curator of the UFMG Artists’ Book Collection.

Ana Paula Garcia

Ana Paula
Garcia

Brazil
Ana Paula Garcia

Ana Paula
Garcia

Brazil

Ana Paula Garcia is an artist, designer and educator. She holds a master’s degree in Arts from UFMG – Federal University of Minas Gerais and she graduated with a BA in Visual Arts (with a qualification in Drawing) from the same institution. She has participated in several collective exhibitions and of the individual exhibitions Eu não quero nunca mais seu endereço (I don’t want your address ever again) in Estúdio Guaco in May 2018, and Construí um lugar para lembrar (I built a place to remember), in Ateliê Arte Nova in October 2013. She has been working with artists’ books and publications since 2013. Her research investigates the relationships between the artist book, the landscape, reading and the physical aspect of printed matter.

Bárbara Macedo

Bárbara
Macedo

Brazil
Bárbara Macedo

Bárbara
Macedo

Brazil

Bárbara Macedo is a Visual Artist from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, with a specialization in drawing from Escola Guignard – UEMG (State University of Minas Gerais). She has participated in many zine fests, in individual and in collective exhibitions in various places of Brazil, as well as in Paraguay. Barbara is the author of publications such as Ser Marginal and Sin perder la ternura (with Idylla Silmarovi). She worked as a drawing teacher for four years.

Beto Galvão

Beto
Galvão

Brazil
Beto Galvão

Beto
Galvão

Brazil

Designer, printer and publisher, today also a chef, Beto Galvão is known as a pioneer in using Riso for creative purposes in Brazil. A production of artists’ publications that spread across the world in the 2000s began to establish itself in the Brazilian territory a few years later, and meli-melo press is one of the exponents in the field. meli-melo was founded in São Paulo in 2012 by Beto, in partnership with designer Anne-Sophie, and today it is led by Luis Aranguri. Beto is also the organizer of Duplica, Brazil’s first focused in Riso Art event, which featured workshops with Riso masters in the 2017 and 2018 editions of Plana Festival.

Brígida Campbell

Brígida
Campbell

Brazil
Brígida Campbell

Brígida
Campbell

Brazil

Brígida Campbell is an artist and a teacher of the School at Fine Arts of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (EBA-UFMG). She holds a master degree from the same institution and a PhD in Visual Arts from the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP). Brigída is a collaborator of EXA – Experimental Art Space. She was the curator of the project Muros – Territórios Compartilhados (Walls: shared territories) and organizes SEMANÁRIA – Semana de Arte Gráficas (Graphic Arts Week), an annual event by EBA-UFMG. Brígida is a researcher on the relations between Art and the City. As an artist, she has participated in several Brazilian and international exhibitions.

Calipso Press

Calipso
Press

Colombia
Calipso Press

Calipso
Press

Colombia

Founded in 2015 by Eva Parra and Camilo Otero, Calipso Press is a Risograph printing studio, a publishing house and artistic collective based in Cali, Colombia. Calipso Press specializes in the production of artists’ books and publications. The main threads running through their practices vary between art and food fermentation processes, visual culture and labor, illustration and design. They also host a residency programme oriented to editorial experimentation and printing investigation.

Cecilia Arbolave

Cecilia
Arbolave

Brazil / Argentina
Cecilia Arbolave

Cecilia
Arbolave

Brazil / Argentina

Cecilia Arbolave is graduated with a BA in Journalism from Universidad Austral, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and holds a postgraduate degree from the Brazilian Academy of Literary Journalism (ABJL). She is from Argentina and has being living in São Paulo, Brazil, for ten years. Together with João Varella, she is founder of Editora Lote 42, the spaces Banca Tatuí and Sala Tatuí. She created and organizes independent publications fairs such as Miolo(s), at Mário de Andrade Library, Tinta Fresca, at Porto Seguro Cultural Space, and Printa-feira, at Sesc 24 de Maio. Winner of the Young Talents Award for the Book Industry (2018), she was a judge of the Jabuti Award in the category Comics in 2017, and of the call for publications by Des.Gráfica, at the Museum of Image and Sound, in 2018.

Daniela Maura

Daniela
Maura

Brazil
Daniela Maura

Daniela
Maura

Brazil

Daniela Maura understood drawing as a fundamental process when she started giving classes. Teacher, artist and free researcher since 2002, she is interested in artistic creative processes, in methods for learning and teaching. Her narratives address themes such as the body and relationships between people. She is the author of the artist book Manual de boas práticas (Good Practice Manual) and the zine Cadernos de estudo (Study Booklets). Daniela graduated with a BA in Visual Arts from Campinas State University (Unicamp) and holds a master’s degree in Arts from the same University. She has been living and working in Belo Horizonte for 11 years.

 

Die Brueder Publishing / Lucky Punch Press

Die Brueder
Publishing /
Lucky Punch
Press

Germany
Die Brueder Publishing / Lucky Punch Press

Die Brueder
Publishing /
Lucky Punch
Press

Germany

Die Brueder is an editorial and design office with branches in Hamburg and Berlin (Germany), which makes books, magazines and web projects, as well as organizes events. One of Die Brueder’s initiatives is Lucky Punch Press, an experimental Risograph printing studio based in Berlin, and Indiecon – the Independent Publishing Festival, held in Oberhafen, a former freight yard that is now a creative quarter right in Hamburg’s centre. Created in 2014, Indiecon annually brings together independent publishers from around the world.

Ediciones El Fuerte

Ediciones
El Fuerte

Argentina
Ediciones El Fuerte

Ediciones
El Fuerte

Argentina

Ediciones el Fuerte is an independent press from Buenos Aires that publishes Riso printed fanzines and posters, based on drawing, graphic narratives, collection of stories, abstraction, and concepts on science, travel, the cosmos, cultures or obsessions. El Fuerte is formed by Sofia Noceti and Juan Casal, who are both designers and illustrators. They print using a Risograph TR, one of the old models of this type of machine. Therefore the whole process is much more “analog” than with the new machines.

Ellen Kocken

Ellen
Kocken

Netherlands
Ellen Kocken

Ellen
Kocken

Netherlands

Working in the fields of Documentary Cinema and Production, Ellen Kocken is the founder and director of Dziga, which is a creative film center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She studied Cultural Anthropology at Radboud University, in Nijmegen, and Visual Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam.

Entrecampo

Entrecampo

Brazil
Entrecampo

Entrecampo

Brazil

Entrecampo is a specialized in Riso studio, which is one of the exponents from Minas Gerais state in the field. Ricardo Portilho and Graziani Riccio created it in 2015, with the proposal of working the overlapping between graphic design, publishing and graphic production. As a publisher, it has released books such as SAMSARA (2016), starting its research in using Riso for printing photographs. Entrecampo has participated in the main Brazilian Art Book Fairs. Its publications are part of Mário de Andrade Library and were selected to American and European collections.

erre erre

erre
erre

Brazil
erre erre

erre
erre

Brazil

erre erre is a visual artist, graphic designer and publisher of fera miúda ediç ̃es. He creates artworks in fields such as drawing, collage, painting, animation, video, engraving, publications, other printed matter and installations. He uses its own productions as well as appropriations of images and / or elements that are already in circulation. This practice is guided by encounters and shocks; contingencies, confluences and deviations.

Fabio Zimbres

Fabio
Zimbres

Brazil
Fabio Zimbres

Fabio
Zimbres

Brazil

Fabio Zimbres works with drawing, comics, illustration, design and publishing. His comics and illustrations were published in Brazil and other countries, in magazines such as Animal, Chiclete com Banana, Dundum, Lápiz Japonés, Lapin, Strapazin and Pé de Cabra. He is the author of the books Vida Boa (Good Life), Feliz (Happy) and Música para Antropomorfos (Music for Anthropomorphs), this last one with the band Mechanics. The Apocalypse according to Dr. Zeug, a comic originally published in 1997, was also part of the magazine Now #2 (Fantagraphics) and it was reissued by No_LIBROS in Chinese in 2019, arriving in Brazil in 2020 through a partnership with Risotrip, in a Chinese-Portuguese edition.

FIF-BH

FIF-BH

Brazil
FIF-BH

FIF-BH

Brazil

Bruno Vilela and Guilherme Cunha are visual artists, researchers and organizers of the Belo Horizonte International Photography Festival (FIF-BH), a biennial cultural action that seeks to promote dialogue between photographic production from different countries, as well as the encounter between photography and other means of creative expression. The axis that guided the 2020 edition was “Resolutive Images”.

Flávia Denise

Flávia
Denise

Brazil
Flávia Denise

Flávia
Denise

Brazil

Flávia Denise is a PhD student in Literary Studies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), where she researches authorship and literary publishing. She holds a master’s degree in Language Studies from the Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG), where she researched art book fairs in Belo Horizonte. She graduated with a BA in Social Communication from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas). She has completed a specialization course in Publishing at New York University (NYU). As journalist, Flávia worked for the newspapers Estado de Minas and O Tempo. In 2016, she founded the literary magazine Chama, with the goal to promote literary production in Belo Horizonte. Flávia researches editorial processes and autonomous publishing.

Fuio Printshop

Fuio
Printshop

Brazil
Fuio Printshop

Fuio
Printshop

Brazil

Fuio Printshop, the main specialized in Riso studio from Brasília, Brazil, was created in 2016 and today it is led by Taís Koshino, co-founder of Fuio and of the small press Piqui (2011-2019). Taís is a visual artist and publisher. She works with drawing and researches its possibilities to embrace imprecision. Her work is part of several kinds of publications and she has participated in nacional and internacional exhibitions. Fuio prints zines, posters and catalogs, and offers Riso printing workshops. It was one of the participants of Duplica, first focused in Riso Art event in Brazil, which was a part of Plana Festival’s program in 2017 and 2018. Fuio prints using a Riso RZ230 and four colors.

Gold Rain

Gold
Rain

Mexico
Gold Rain

Gold
Rain

Mexico

Gold Rain is the publishing house of Da Substanz, an artist-run space based in the city of Querétaro, Mexico. They publish artists’ books, catalogs, zines, editorial accidents, and other experimental books; in limited or spontaneous editions, mainly Riso printed, and always in close contact with the authors and artists.

Ing Lee

Ing
Lee

Brazil
Ing Lee

Ing
Lee

Brazil

Ing Lee is a Korean-Brasilian visual artist, comic-book author and researcher born in Belo Horizonte, bisexual and a deaf speaker. Ing released her first zine in 2016 and, since then, self-publishes. Many of her artworks were printed in Riso, such as A Boneca (2016) and Karaokê Box (2019). She is the co-founder of the small press O Quiabo. Memory, identity and urban melancholy are some of the themes she works with, having references ranging from pop culture to East Asian cinema.

Issue Press

Issue
Press

United States
Issue Press

Issue
Press

United States

Issue Press is an independent publisher of artists’ publications, multiples and other printed matter based in Grand Rapids, MI. The shop operates from a century-old brick warehouse on the city’s Westside, a former flypaper factory that now provides studio space for artists and printmakers. All work is produced with Risograph duplicators. Its creator, George Wietor, is one of the most important characters for the Riso Art scene, and he is also the founder of the collaborative portal stencil.wiki, which promotes knowledge exchanges, hosts an atlas with studios around the world, events and other information about risography .

Ivana Smudja

Ivana
Smudja

Netherlands/ Italy/ Serbia
Ivana Smudja

Ivana
Smudja

Netherlands/ Italy/ Serbia

Film director Ivana Smudja was born in Novi Sad (Serbia), raised in Lucca (Italy) and now lives in the Netherlands. She has worked in the film industry since 2008. Her interest in alternative ways of telling stories and her research on current issues began when she worked for VICE Italy (2011-2014). She is the director of Knust – the pioneers of riso printing documentary (Dziga, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 2019). Ivana is developing her first feature.

Jerónimo Velásquez

Jerónimo
Velásquez

Colombia
Jerónimo Velásquez

Jerónimo
Velásquez

Colombia

The artist Jerónimo Velásquez, from Bogota, Colombia, founded in 2013 Perro Centinela, a small press specialized in comics and art books. He publishes works by other artists and his own, such as the comic PNIG PONG (May of 2016). Jerónimo is also publisher at Primer Ocaso, a collaborative space for graphic and visual exploration.

Jo Frenken

Jo Frenken

Netherlands
Jo Frenken

Jo Frenken

Netherlands

The artist Jo Frenken has been printing and publishing since the 1970s. He works at the Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht, the Netherlands), where he is the head of the Printing and Publishing Lab, which is specialized in stencil printing techniques and the most awarded amongst of all Riso printers. Jo Frenken created and organizes Magical Riso, the pioneer and most important Riso Art-focused event. In 2020, he published I wish to communicate with you, an alternative color guide, using maritime letter signal flags and the combination of all 23 colors available at the Lab.

John Z. Komurki

John Z.
Komurki

Germany / United Kingdom
John Z. Komurki

John Z.
Komurki

Germany / United Kingdom

John Z. Komurki is a Berlin-based researcher and curator, most recently of the exhibition ‘Druck Druck Druck: Print Communities from Berlin and Beyond’ at Galerie im Körnerpark (April-August 2019). Previously curator of ‘Risofest Berlin’ and ‘Risofest Paris’, and convener of the ‘Print as Practice’ roundtable series. Author of various books on print and analogue technology, including Risomania: The New Spirit of Printing (2017), the first book to be published about the Risograph duplicator; Silkscreen Masters (2018), on contemporary screen printing practices; Cassette Cultures (2019), a history of the cassette as a media form; and Druck Druck Druck (with Nina Prader, 2020), based on the exhibition of the same name.

Knust

Knust

Netherlands
Knust

Knust

Netherlands

Knust is a pioneer in using Riso for creative purposes and a world reference in stencil printing, experience accumulated since the use of mimeographs. Founded in 1984 in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) by Jan Dirk de Wilde, it is also formed by Joyce Guley and Astrid Florentinus. Since acquiring its first digital duplicator, the group has increasingly expanded its domain and experimentation in art in Riso, mastering the technology. Their knowledge is reflected in books, zines and other publications, in exhibitions, workshops and artistic residencies.

Luiz Navarro

Luiz
Navarro

Brazil
Luiz Navarro

Luiz
Navarro

Brazil

Luiz Navarro is a journalist, researcher and editor of the magazine A Zica, one of the main independent art publications in Brazil. He holds a specialization in Contemporary Art from Escola Guignard and is author of the book Pele de Propaganda, which is about street art in BH. Luiz is organizer of Canastra art book fair, of other projects and events, in the graphic arts, audiovisual and communication fields.

marco sem s

marco
sem s

Brazil
marco sem s

marco
sem s

Brazil

The artist marco sem s develops his works based on drawing, graphic thinking and the possibilities of dialogue with urban daily life. He is a designer and, since 2015, he works at the Agency for Citizen Initiatives (AIC, former Associação Imagem Comunitária), in collaborative processes and art education, through workshops and graphic immersions. He is the author of zines such as MEUS LUGARES FAVORITOS (MY FAVORITE PLACES), Instante cotidiano (Everyday instant) and QUADRO NEGRO (BLACKBOARD). He participated in the comics anthology Cápsula (O Quiabo, 2019) and in several exhibitions.

Maria Clara Carneiro

Maria Clara
Carneiro

Brazil
Maria Clara Carneiro

Maria Clara
Carneiro

Brazil

Maria Clara Carneiro is an assistant teacher in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at UFSM – Federal University of Santa Maria, editor of the comic book website Balbúrdia and one of the organizers of Grampo Award. She is a translator of comic books and one of the authors of the book Style(s) de (la) bande de dessinée (Classiques Garnier, 2019). She is the leader of the research group Writing, comic books and translation workshops: literature theory and literary practices at CNPq – National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

Mateus Acioli

Mateus
Acioli

Brazil
Mateus Acioli

Mateus
Acioli

Brazil

Mateus Acioli is a visual artist and graphic designer from Olinda, who lives in São Paulo since 1992. He is the head of Livros Fantasma, having produced books, performances, exhibitions, film presentations and VHS tapes. He is a member of the video collective ONNO and the duo CRISE. Published projects include the free newspaper Suplemento, as well as Torpor, Bruto, Não Entre na Via, Baiacu, Antílope, Baldio, Cinema Zero, among others.

Miek Zwamborn

Miek
Zwamborn

Netherlands
Miek Zwamborn

Miek
Zwamborn

Netherlands

Miek Zwamborn is a Dutch author, translator and artist. Her practice often delves into archival collections, drawing on the suggestive possibility of historical materials, letters, texts, objects and artefacts in order to create narratives. Through installations, performances, books and photography, Zwamborn imbues her source material with a rigorous sense of subjective and the speculative. She published novels, poetry pamphlets and many artist books. Her writings have been translated into English, German and Swedish. Her visual works have been exhibited in solo and group shows in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland. In 2016 she co-founded Knockvologan Studies, a study place for art, literature, field research and nature preservation on the Scottish Isle of Mull. Together with Jo Frenken, Miek Zwamborn publishes the Riso series CNP – Centum Nec Plura at the Jan van Eyck Academie: each publication is based on the exposed nature around Knockvologan.

Nina Prader

Nina
Prader

Germany / Austria / United States
Nina Prader

Nina
Prader

Germany / Austria / United States

Nina Prader is an artist, author, independent publisher, and a print activist in Berlin (Germany) and Vienna (Austria). She has written for Texte zur Kunst, Spex, SLEEK, BerlinArtLink, HANT, Arts for the Working Class, Wespennest, and Augustin. Her research focuses on printed matters and the Risograph. Most recently she curated the exhibition Druck Druck Druck in the Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin; the gallery became a live publishing house and print studio to pursue radical goals in art, education, and community.

PHONTE88

PHONTE88

Brazil
PHONTE88

PHONTE88

Brazil

PHONTE88 is a graphic experimentation and self-publishing project of artists’ books and zines. Thyana Hacla and Circe Clingert founded it in 2014, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They work with the relations and tensions between content and form. Thyana Hacla is a visual artist and a writer. She is graduated with a BA in Visual Arts, with a qualification in engraving, from UFMG – Federal University of Minas Gerais, and she is a MA student in Language Studies at CEFET-MG – Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais, researching artists’ books. Circe Clingert is a visual artist, poet, publisher and she works in bookbinding. She is graduated with a BA in Languages – Spanish with emphasis in editing from UFMG.

polvilho edições

polvilho
edições

bRAZIL
polvilho edições

polvilho
edições

bRAZIL

Ana Rocha has been researching, collecting and producing artists’ books since 2010. In 2012, she founded polvilho edições, an independent press dedicated to the development of authorial work, both with regard to the creative processes of the artworks and the ways and means for their production, publication and distribution.

Priscapaes

Priscapaes

Brazil
Priscapaes

Priscapaes

Brazil

Priscapaes is graduated with a BA in Visual Arts from Escola Guignard. Her artistic experience also comes from working with theater and design. The female figure is the base for her artwork. She is the author of the zines Pra Tua Presença Ausente (For Your Absent Presence), Profundidade (Depth) and Não Mexe Comigo Que Eu Não Ando Só (Don’t mess with me, I don’t walk alone). Art educator since 2011, she offers art workshops for children and young people in schools and other places.

Prumo

Prumo

Brazil
Prumo

Prumo

Brazil

The artist Bruno Rios works with several artistic languages. He is interested in issues related to the body, the landscape, the displacement, the play and drawing as tools for interpretation and reconfiguration of the world. He participated in several exhibitions and residences. Matheus Ferreira is a visual artist, designer and teacher. He is interested in the paths and trails that gestures, ideas and words leave in the world. He uses drawing, typography, editorial design and other systems for circulating experiences to connect with others. The two artists form the editorial platform Prumo, which created the visual identity of Faísca International Riso Festival in 2020.

Pupi Club

Pupi
Club

Chile
Pupi Club

Pupi
Club

Chile

Founded and led by Natalia González and Catalina Viera in Santiago, Chile, Pupi Club is a micro-publisher and a Riso studio that emerged in 2016, as a way of working with friends and experimenting in the fanzine format. Social, feminine and political themes are addressed in the publications, by Chilean and Latin American artists. Pupi Club has already participated in fairs in its home country, in Argentina and in Brazil.

Quintal Éditions

Quintal Éditions

France
Quintal Éditions

Quintal Éditions

France

Quintal Éditions is a Paris-based design studio and publisher. Quintal seeks to combine the artisan and manual works of the authors and the creative processes linked to the new digital tools. Quintal is also a studio that uses Riso as its main printing tool, a space for workshops and graphic services. With A3 and A2 duplicators, the studio works with almost 30 different colors.

Relámpago

Relámpago

Colombia
Relámpago

Relámpago

Colombia

Publisher, design and printing studio, as well as exhibition space, Relámpago is based in the Santa Teresita neighborhood, in Bogota, Colombia. There is a printing press in the workspace that, through experimental practices, reconfigures and uses the heritage to learn and unlearn the present. The house is composed by offices, printing workshop, and a space for exhibitions, lectures and events.

Ricardo Aleixo

Ricardo
Aleixo

Brazil
Ricardo Aleixo

Ricardo
Aleixo

Brazil

Ricardo Aleixo was born in Belo Horizonte in 1960. He is a poet, visual and sound artist, performer, researcher of voice and body poetics, singer, composer, essayist and publisher. He published, among others, the books Pesado demais para a ventania (Todavia, 2018), Antiboi (LIRA / Crisálida, 2017 – finalist of the 2018 Oceanos Award) and Modelos vivos (Crisálida, 2010 – finalist of the Portugal Telecom and Jabuti 2011 awards). He has performed in Germany, Argentina, Portugal, France, Mexico, Spain, the USA and Switzerland. His work is in anthologies and special editions of magazines and newspapers dedicated to the diffusion of Brazilian poetry in the USA, Argentina, Portugal, France, Wales, Angola and Mexico. He has participated in collective exhibitions, such as Poiesis <Poema entre pixel e programa> (RJ, 2007), Radiovisual – Em torno de 4’33” (Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, 2009) and Poética Expositiva (RJ, 2011). Ricardo is the curator of ZIP/Invention Zone Poetry& festival. He edits Roda – Arte e Cultura do Atlântico Negro magazine and the Elixir Collection, of typographic plates. He develops his creation and research projects at LIRA/Laboratório Interartes Ricardo Aleixo and at KORA/Kombo Roda Afrotópica, both located in the Campo Alegre neighborhood, in the northern region of Belo Horizonte.

Risotrip Print Shop Co.

Risotrip
Print Shop Co.

Brazil
Risotrip Print Shop Co.

Risotrip
Print Shop Co.

Brazil

Risotrip Print Shop Co. was the first Risograph printing studio to open in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Founded by Daniel Bicho and Igor Arume in 2015, it is also a small press, having published books from its founders and from artists such as Demian Jacob and Fábio Zimbres. Risotrip has participated in exhibitions in Brazil, in European countries and in China, as well as in the USA, where their publications were selected for a popup occupation at MoMA Museum Store. The studio offers workshops to encourage new self-publishing practices and graphic experimentation. It is one of the studios mentioned in the book Risomania: the new spitit of printing and in magazines such as étapes and GRAPHIC. Risotrip has two Riso duplicators, two Gestetner stencil duplicators and eight colors.

Risotropical

Risotropical

Brazil
Risotropical

Risotropical

Brazil

Risotropical is a small press and printing studio founded in 2016 in São Paulo, Brazil, by the designer Renan Costa Lima, as a continuation of his design work in Estúdio Tropical. Besides carrying out its own production, the studio receives projects from designers, artists, illustrators and authors, working both with small and large print runs. Posters and art publications are available in the Risotropical online shop. Since 2018, the studio is based in the independent cultural space Publica. There are three MZ1090 and 20 colors available.

RisoTropical Fortaleza

RisoTropical
Fortaleza

Brazil
RisoTropical Fortaleza

RisoTropical
Fortaleza

Brazil

RisoTropical.For is a design and print studio founded in Fortaleza in 2017. It develops educational and experimentation activities through collaborative practices. One of these projects is Revista Mapa, a series made in partnership with local artists that registers “extra-official” and possible cartographies of their city. Another one is Impressão Tropical, a project that offers workshops combining riso printing, screen printing, typography and bookbinding. This work has resulted in publications with artists like Weaver Lima, Lia Ancântara e Leonardo Buggy. RisoTropical.For works with a Riso MZ790 and 9 colors.

Selva Press

Selva
Press

Brazil
Selva Press

Selva
Press

Brazil

Founded in 2015, Selva Press was the first Riso printing studio to open in Curitiba, Paraná. Managed by the graphic artist Estelle Flores, the space is dedicated to short and medium-run editions of posters, zines, magazines, catalogues, pamphlets and other printed matter. It also offers classes and workshops. The studio has released the publications Não me mande Cartas (Don’t send me letters), by Estelle Flores, Tatuagens Psicóticas do Terceiro Mundo (Third World Psycho Tattoos), by Ariel Teske and Show do Espanto (Freak Show), by Caramurú Baumgartner and Cyla Costa. Selva Press works with a Riso Gr1700 and 7 colors.

Sérgio Fantini

Sérgio
Fantini

Brazil
Sérgio Fantini

Sérgio
Fantini

Brazil

Writer Sérgio Fantini was born in 1961 in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He has published poetry, short story and novel titles, and his work is in several anthologies. Among his books are Diz Xis, Cada Um Cada, Materiaes, Coleta Seletiva, A ponto de explodir, Camping Pop, Silas, A Baleia Conceição, O município de Tormenta and Novella, which was a semifinalist in the Portugal Telecom Award. Together with the poet Adriane Garcia, he has been publishing the zine Bellzebuuu for three years. In 2008, the animation short film Terra premiered, based on one of Sérgio Fantini’s poems, written by him and the director of the audiovisual piece, Sávio Leite. Collective literary works, concerts, exhibitions, recitals, performances, workshops and debates are also among Sérgio’s achievements. As a cultural employee at the Belo Horizonte City Hall, he participated in the coordination of activities such as Bienal Internacional de Poesia (International Poetry Biennial), Festival de Arte Negra – FAN (Black Art Festival),  Concurso Nacional de Literatura (National Literature Competition), Música de Domingo (Sunday Music), Sexta Sintonia (Sixth Tuning), Estação da Música (Music Station), Praça Sete Seis e Meia and Salão do Livro & Encontro de Literatura (Book Salon & Literature Meeting). In 2019, Sérgio released the book QUARENTA, by Pulo press, a celebration of his four decades of poetry, composed of poems and author’s memoirs.

 

Terminal Ediciones

Terminal
Ediciones

Ecuador
Terminal Ediciones

Terminal
Ediciones

Ecuador
theretherenow.

theretherenow.

United States
theretherenow.

theretherenow.

United States

theretherenow. is a Risograph atelier with a particular interest in the application of Riso printing to photography and photo-adjacent work. Each year they publish 4 editions of THERE, THERE: an unbound publication paring three contemporary photographers with a unique Risograph color space. Founded by Travis Shaffer in 2016, theretherenow. is an independent small press and research-project.

Valquíria Rabelo

Valquíria
Rabelo

Brazil
Valquíria Rabelo
Foto: Camila Rocha – Estático Zero

Valquíria
Rabelo

Brazil

Valquíria Rabelo is gratuated with a BA in Social Communication from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), as well as in Graphic Design from Minas Gerais State University (UEMG). She founded, in 2015, Estúdio Guayabo, that she runs along with Daniel Bilac. Valquíria won awards such as best graphic project in 59th Prêmio Jabuti and best text-book in 13rd Prêmio Cícero de Excelência Gráfica. Her projects are in books and websites such as Los Logos 8 (Gestalten), The Pattern Book (Monsa Publications), Awwwards (Honorable mention) and Fonts In Use (Staff Pick collection).

Vetro Editions

Vetro
Editions

Germany
Vetro Editions

Vetro
Editions

Germany

Vetro Editions was founded in 2014 in Berlin, Germany, by the designer Luca Bendandi. The first book to register the contemporary Riso printed creative production was Risomania: the new spirit of printing, a project by Vetro, edited by Luca Bendandi and Luca Bogoni, written by John Z. Komurki. The partnership with the same author has resulted in other publications, such as Riso as a Tool for Freedom, with John’s texts and a collection of posters designed by Luca and Silkscreen Masters (Dolly Demoratti, John and Luca), which gained a Brazilian edition in 2018 by GG. The book Analogue Photography, by Andrew Bellamy, is one of the highlights of Vetro’s catalogue.

Volúsia Press

Volúsia
Press

Brazil
Volúsia Press

Volúsia
Press

Brazil

Volúsia Press is a Riso printing studio from São Paulo, Brazil. Founded in 2017 by Rogério Borovik, it is also formed by Paulo Gervino. They’ve published the series Cabeça de Bagre – by artists Leya Brander, Daniel Lima, Túlio Tavares, Eduardo Verderame and Rogério Borovik – and have also printed the zine San Tae Geuk, by Ing Lee, Monge Han and Paty Baik. Volúsia’s production is focused on zines, posters and printed matter. The studio also works in other fields, in projects such as Volúsia Radio.

Zaika dos Santos

Zaika
dos Santos

Brazil
Zaika dos Santos

Zaika
dos Santos

Brazil

Zaika dos Santos is a multi-disciplinary artist, a scientist and a researcher specialized in Afrofuturism. She has founded Afrofuturismo: Arte e STEM, the group Saltosoundsystem – dedicated to empower women and trans people –, as well as the initiative Nok é Nagô, which embraces painting, photography, sculpture, engraving, performance, computer graphics and digital art. Zaika is also a singer and songwriter and her most recent album is Akofena. She is a member of ABPN (Brazilian Association of Black Researchers) and of 500 Women Scientists. Zaika has participated in projects such as Women in Science (British Council) and WOW – Women of the World Festival.