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Are you passionate about what you do? - We Are OCA

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Are you passionate about what you do?

While the subject matter of this video may only directly appeal to Graphic Design students, and those interested in typography, the story this short video tells is compelling for anyone with a passion. Watch this full screen, so that you catch the atmospheric details.


Posted by author: Jane Parry

17 thoughts on “Are you passionate about what you do?

  • I like this video! It does give me a warm feeling seeing how a print is produced, but it is a lot of hard work to get the mould together and make sure they are in the correct order.
    My native language has about 10000 commonly used charaters. I simply cannot imagine how and if people design new typeface at all in the old days.
    There is an article on BBC a while ago on this type of printing.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17686453

  • Really fascinating, and a quality bit of filming! (Mind you there’s a freaky head that appears on the left hand side – in a violin case maybe? _ at about 4:27 minutes!)
    It’s humbling the amount of time, effort, patience and perseverance that goes into this type of work. Really enjoyed watching it.

  • Probably one of the most beautifully produced OCA videos so far.
    Fascinating, like Lucie said, on so many levels.
    What struck me was how slow this takes. And it makes me wonder at how much real passion we put into, or have for things we do today, that need to happen faster and better and bigger.
    On a lighter note, yes, I spotted the head too… the room is beautifully intimate (is that the right word?).
    Thanks, a really engaging and interesting video.
    As a last thought… I was wondering whether Brian is teaching any younger people?

  • This video truly brought a tear to my eye. I felt like I had gone back in time and having one of those deja vu moments.
    As a young 15 year old I became an apprentice to this beautiful art. I spent many hours perfecting this skill, bent over my box of types, inserting blocks etc etc and learning everything there was to it, including the frustration of having to restart due to knocking it!
    I have many of the old blocks still and pick them up if I see them at the car boot etc, guess its just a habbit.
    I also learnt the highly skilled maual bookbinding process, hand sewing, binding with leather and then the gilding of the books. I was very nervous and excited when at 20 years of age I gained the contrsct for the restoration of the universitys antique books, beating off much older people.
    Sadly due to people having to demand in this business, years later I had to give it up and move into the more “modern” techniques. This also is coming to an end so now it is time to move on and retrain in a “proper” job……
    I will never forget those years I spent and think I have been very lucky to be one of the last people trained in a live and working environment for this kind of beautiful and extremely patient art.
    People until they saw it never did realise what a true art and how slow and how laborious it was.

  • I found this fascinating. I recently read an article which brought home the problems which book artists who use letterpress printing are facing. No new type is being made. Type wears out eventually, so will the craft totally die out – or will some enterprising metalworker start re-casting type. (I am thinking of the re-use of the redundant technology of the thermofax machines -superceded by digital fax . Textile designers in the US discovered that these were ideal for making fast and complex permanent stencils for screen printing – so a market began to emerge amongst small scale printers who had not the space for a photo stencil darkroom, but the supply began to dry up……and an enterprising German began to manufacture new machines.
    I believe Hedgehog Press in Manchester offer letterpress workshops

  • For those of you with an iPad, there is a wonderful app calledLetterMPress which simulates letter press printing really well, even rolling your creation through a bed! It’s great fun.

  • Being passionate about what we do!! Great to be reminded about what what makes many an artist tick.
    This video captures the total absorbtion of the creative process, many thanks for making it so readily available to us all.
    … and now to my passion, Papercutting.
    For those of you who have a few moments to spare I hope you will enjoy watching this video of Beatrice Coron – an inspiration to the artist in us all!
    http://www.ted.com/talks/beatrice_coron_stories_cut_from_paper.html

  • Lovely, atmospheric little film. I thought the music was appropriate and atmospheric, but too dominant and distracting during the narration.

  • This is a lovely piece of film making. I love the way his jumper almost matches the carpet! Being passionate is what it is all about. It helps you put up with the financial hardship, the hours of trial and error, the indifference or criticism of those around you, faulty equipment, poor weather, backache and countless other frustrations. It’s what gets you up in the morning and powers your day.

    • I agree. The observations and textures are lovely. I too loved the jumper, and was moved by the gesture of the cat on his lap, and even the wooden television trolley. It all meant that the craftsman came across as a human being.

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