RISOGRAD Workshop 9.11.2024
The First Visit
I discovered RISOGRAD looking for riso printing opportunities in Graz, since my master thesis has a lot to do with risography. RISOGRAD is a printing collective based in Schaumbad – Freies Atelierhaus Graz. They have been out there since 2017. You can find out more about them here.
Their webpage informs that they have these machines: RP3700 (2); MZ790; EZ390
And these colors:
Black / Metallic Gold / Burgundy / Green / Medium Blue / Bright Red / Risofederal Blue / Purple / Teal / Hunter Green / Red / Yellow / Orange / Crimson / Fluorescent Pink / Fluorescent Orange / Sunflower / Grey / Aqua / Mint
Their main means of communication is their Instagram profile @risograd; otherwise, this simple email address: info@risograd.org.
I used the first opportunity to visit them, which happened to be an open workshop that takes place once a month on Saturdays, from one to six. During the visit I found out how one can print something with them.
Well, first things first. The machine being used as the main one is MZ790, and it is a double drum machine! The colors available for this one are sunflower, crimson, aqua, hunter green, grey, and black. One of the two RP3700 is alright, the second one got the drum stuck second time within few months. EZ390 does not seem to be operating.
They have a selection of papers you can use, for a price. The papers have different prices per sheet, depending on the type and size of the paper. On the wall they have a table with price list for all the services. Two main things to keep in mind are these:
- They kindly ask for a donation of minimum 10€ per project being printed.
- Each master costs 2€. Which can make a project expensive-ish, depending on it’s scope, so be mindful of this when printing at RISOGRAD. In case you are not familiar with workings of risograph, let me briefly explain: it is a stencil duplicator, think screen printing, but automated. You create one stencil – a master, for each layer of print. For example let’s say you have a poster which you need to print using 4 colors. Each color would be one layer, one stencil = one master. That would come up to usage of 4 masters. That is, if everything goes well :).
You also pay for inks (per printed sheet), and if you want to commercialize your prints, you also pay little extra for it.
All that being said – it is still pretty cheap and very accessible, and I’d say if you can afford it, donate more. It’s a nonprofit and everyone involved is doing it for no gain; all the money goes towards the operation.
As I was saying goodbye I was told that unfortunately, they might be closing up by the end of the year, since they collectively don’t have that much extra time to put into RISOGRAD. The next workshop was to be on the 7th on December, and there was to be more information, all of which I will cover in my next IMPULSE.
