Nafa's hopes of building a print archive

The acquisition of a collection from Typesettingsg, Singapore's only letterpress heritage studio, has increased its holdings by about 10 times

- Shawn Hoo

The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore (Nafa) is bolstering its printmaking resources with the acquisition of the collection of Typesettingsg, Singapore's only letterpress heritage studio that was set to shut in June.

While there is currently no printing or traditional letterpress heritage museum in Singapore, Mr Miguel Chew, senior lecturer and academic adviser for print at Nafa, tells The Straits Times that the university is slowly growing its collection in hopes of building a print archive.

Ms Sabrina Long, dean of the faculty of art and design at Nafa, says that "this is one important part of Singapore's letterpress heritage that we feel we must protect". She hopes the print archive "will evolve in response to new creative practices, growing to be a vibrant knowledge repository that serves the community".

The acquisition has increased Nafa's letterpress collection by about 10 times, says Mr Chew, who has taught at Nafa since 2005.

It includes rare Chinese types, a newspaper mould of Sin Chew Jit Poh and printing blocks of wedding invitations and everyday products salvaged from local printing shops dated from between the 1950s and 1980s. Nafa also now has seven functional letterpress machines up from one - and three new proofing presses.