Cardpress combines Print Club London's original silkscreen printed artworks with UCI's old-fashioned letterpress printing and linotype type casting machines to create a retro take on the modern concept of online personalised cards.

To celebrate the launch, UCI and Print Club London held a launch party at MC Motors in Dalston last week (17 October) where revellers were invited to get their fingers inky by printing their own line of linotype text (produced live at the event) on an Adana hand press.

The first batch of designs include illustrations by Pure Evil, Alice Stallard, James Joyce, Margaux Carpentier and Anthony Peters, all of which were originally produced as limited edition silkscreen handmade prints in one, two or three-colours.

These five designs have been turned into letterpress printed cards, printed on a Heidelberg platen on 100% pure cotton stock, which can have a single line of variable text centre aligned on the inside right page.

Kate Newbold-Higginson, director of Print Club London, said: "UCI's manual ethos is close to the way we work. It’s really exciting to combine contemporary illustrators with traditional machines. Because we work with layered files too, the process we go through translates well to their machines. Though there’s still a bit of a learning curve - they are learning our way and we are learning theirs."

Cardpress customers input their line of text on the website when ordering the card; the text is then cast on a linotype machine in Metro Medium 18pt and letterpress printed to the inside of their chosen card.

In addition, Print Club London creative director Rose Stallard has created five new designs that allow for a personalised text element - again produced in Metro Medium 18pt on a linotype machine - but with the variable text incorporated into the design on the cover of the card.

All of the cards cost £4.90 (including VAT) and are available to order now from UCI's website.

UCI founder Stanley Wilson, who rescued and restored one of the UK's last remaining collections of Linotype machines in 2011, said: "It requires real knowledge to keep this machinery going. We needed to conceive of a way of breathing new life into the machines.

"The key concept is to make sure the next generation of people are getting that knowledge. It’s not rocket science but it is complicated. It’s not something you can learn in a fortnight, a month or even six months. I can see a difference in the print one of our very experienced printers has produced and one produced by someone else, even if they’re relatively skilled."

Additional reporting by Jenny Roper.