Dubuque Letterpress Studio - Click for full size

We are seeking business partners, angels, patrons and creative collaborators to help build a dynamic digital letterpress business in this dynamic Mississippi River town, nestled into the bluffs and coulees of the beautiful Driftless bio-region.

We're looking for one or two enthusiastic collaborators with proven typographic design, illustration, printmaking and/or letterpress experience, financially flexible, willing to relocate and participate in the restoration and re-birth of our Press.

Equipment includes two Vandercook flatbeds (#219 and Universal I), an 1890s Washington Style standing press, two C&P Old Style platens (8x12 and 10x15) Original Heidelberg "Windmill" 10x15, Intertek A4 Photopolymer Platemaker, 100+ drawers of foundry metal type, dozens+ fonts of 19th C original wood type, 30in Challenge Guillotine cutter, Mac OS X design environment including professional type design software (Font Lab, Scan Font)

At the current time, the plan is to renovate this 2000sq.ft. warehouse studio with new windows, climate control, paint the walls, polish the hardwood floor, install a utility bathroom with shower and a lounge/conference area.

2008 plans include publishing projects, product development and marketing, visiting artist collaborations, workshops in book and paper arts, etc.

Dubuque's warehouse district is adjacent to US Hwy 61/151/20, the Port of Dubuque, and the Smithsonian Museum of the Mississippi River. Old Dubuque is built on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi, with Civil War era Victorian homes, a gold-domed county courthouse and bald-eagles nesting along the river.

Dubuque is the gateway to the Upper Mississippi, mid-way between Madison and Iowa City, three hours west of Chicago, five hours south of the Twin Cities.

Peter Fraterdeus is the founder of Semiotx Inc, and of Dubuque Letterpress. He lives in a nice little cottage in Galena Illinois, across the river from Dubuque.

• Taught design, lettering at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1984-1991.
• Recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants (1980, 1986) for study and development in type design and letterform.
• Studied calligraphy and letter carving with Ieuan Rees in Wales (1981)
• Letterpress printer since the early 1980s.
• Studied calligraphy and type-design with Hermann Zapf at RIT.
• Consultant on web strategy and user experience design.
• Type designer, founded Alphabets, Inc (now Alphabets Font Library) in 1987. Fonts include Prospera, Quanta, Marlowe.