December created by NATE STEVENS – Nate is an undersized overachiever—dreaming and doing, living and loving in the Gem City of Dayton, Ohio. He spends his days designing, practicing jiu-jitsu, enjoying good company and anticipating his next meal. view work
It’s 4.25 inches wide and 6 inches tall and chocked full of local talent! The 12 Musketeers 2016 letterpress calendar is a collaboration of local graduates from the School of Advertising Art. According to their website this years calendar is:
“Geometric, organic, subtle or loud—patterns intersect with regulation and decoration in our lives. In 2016, let this calendar inspire you like it inspired us: to observe the small, the mundane, the good, and the bad. With newfound courage, chuck the old habits that no longer serve you, and create the space for new patterns to take form.”
And it even seems to come with a little advice:
“Dig deep, notice the repetitions, find the reoccurring theme, and keep repeating only what makes sense.”
We asked Reka Juhasz, currently a print designer at Real Art as well as the calendar coordinator about the process for putting this project together:
February by Shaw Green
What was the inspiration for the calendar?
The 12 Musketeers letterpress calendar in its fourth year and this year has been inspired by patterns. Each year we create a theme to give the designers a bit of an idea to go off on. They pick the month and how to convey what that month personally means to them with the inspiration at hand.
How did you chose the artists that were united for this project?
As a proud saa alum, I try each year to select people that I have been secretly spying on or people I know will deliver a good solution to the inspiration at hand. Each year I try hard to collaborate with the newest and oldest alums that can spare the time to work with me on the calendar. Sometimes you start out with friends you know will pull through, sometimes you reach out to alums based on work you have seen them do.
April by Kenny Glenn
Will there be more of these collaborations?
Each year is a different animal. The first year we sold out in less than 4 weeks, the following years it’s been harder to sell the calendars. I would like to keep the project going, and maybe do a special 5-year edition next year. As long as we break even on the project we will keep doing it.
What else should we know about this project?
It’s an award winning collaboration (we have been recognized for the print work, web work and video in previous years), we are a bunch of design nerds who all love design and the craft of letterpress and we are proud to be a revolving set of 12 musketeers every year showing the community (Dayton and worldwide) what saa has taught us about being curious, collaborative and loving the process.
“12 awesome designers trained in battle at saa come together to defend the honor of letterpress .”
You can purchase one of these limited addition, hand printed calendars online for just $20, perfect for holiday giving for that hard to buy for person on your gift list. And maybe one for you, as well. But be quick, only 150 have been made.
