KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — In the digital age, the art of letterpress printing is a dying one. However, The Alphabet Press (TAP), an initiative started by a group of friends in 2013, is reviving the old-school printing one step at a time, by creating bespoke stationery and cards.
Last October, together with Kakiseni, the platform for performing arts, they launched the L.E.A.D. game. It’s a fun way to revive the dying art as the pieces for the game are repurposed from antique lead types. The acronym L.E.A.D also stands for “lead everyone against discrimination” since it hopes to also get others to set aside their racial differences and play the game.
How it came about is an interesting story. Last year, Lainie Yeoh and Lim Ee Loe from Kakiseni went on a recce to Ipoh in preparation for The Other Festival. The duo bumped into a man called Mr Thong who was sitting outside a shop. After a chat, they found out that the shop Percetakan Wai Oi Shiah had an 80-year-old lead type as well as letterpress.
Excited by their find, Kakiseni called TAP who made a trip to Ipoh to see Mr Thong’s letterpress. They found out that he had a full set of polyglot (multilingual lead type). Back then six languages were printed in the newspapers and the letterpress was used to print Tamil, Jawi, Bengali, Chinese, Malay and English. “We learned from him that he inherited the letterpress from his grandmother in the 1920s. This shop we found was in Ipoh Old Town and it was hidden. It was actually just opposite the new hipster cafes,” said Lim.
Together with the members of TAP they negotiated with Mr Thong for a few months, trying to convince him that people in Kuala Lumpur are interested in letterpress and there was a revival. He thought it was nonsense, that no one would appreciate this traditional form of printing anymore. Mr Thong is also a reserved person so initially he was very reluctant to collaborate with the people from Kakiseni and TAP. “It took us about 10 to 12 trips before Uncle relented. At that time, TAP was busy shifting so we spent most of the time with Uncle,” said Yeoh.
Helios Loo from TAP has a background as a game designer so one night he came up with the idea to make a game based on lead types. Since Mr Thong had a lot of lead types which were very valuable but some of them had extra or missing characters, TAP decided to make a game out of it. It was a joint collaboration with Kakiseni who had discovered the letterpress and played a key part in the discussions with Mr Thong.
TAP made 300 copies of the game they named L.E.A.D. by repurposing 70 kilograms of antique lead types from Mr Thong’s shop. Mr Thong was sceptical at first that anybody would want the 80-year old collection of antique lead types except for scrap metal dealers.
But with much persuasion, he decided to give it a try and collaborate with this group of young, enthusiastic people. “We made L.E.A.D to create awareness about Mr Thong so that people will know that this thing still exists and if they want, they can come and find out more. Mr Thong is also looking for investors who are willing to learn more about the equipment,” said Loo.
TAP spent many hours cleaning the lead types which were coated with dust. The mechanics of the game is simple. Each person draws a character card which shows the different races of Malaysia. The objective of the game is to build a stack of lead types until there is a tower. If your character card matches the character card when the tower is built, then you are the winner. Each person takes turns placing one lead type per turn to build the tower.
Since the launch of the game last October at The Other Festival, word has spread around the world about the letterpress and the full set of polyglot. There are a lot of people interested in the art of letterpress now and by getting a set of L.E.A.D. you can expand your collection. It is a form of heritage and conservation. “You can keep your collection or exchange with other regions which might have other sets of lead types,” said Loo.
It took six weeks for TAP and Kakiseni to develop the game, test and launch it. So far, feedback has been good for the game. “Building the tower is like building the Tower of Babel where everyone speaks a different tongue so it’s impossible to build a tower. The game helps you to put aside your differences and build something together,” said Loo.
It is suited for people who are interested in lead types, the art of letterpress or anyone who enjoys a good game. It is not suited for children as the lead may be toxic to them. Priced at RM98, you can get the game online and through selected stockists.
Find out more about the L.E.A.D game through www.thealphabetpress.com
