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Q&A: Nick Loaring Printer, The Print Project Shipley

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Nick has been in around printing since he first got his hands on a photocopier at the age of 13. He still hasn’t grown out of his fascination, and admits he may just have developed an addiction to the smell of ink and printing equipment. “Some people are fascinated by cars or trains, I’m fascinated by machinery that prints stuff years after it has been deemed ‘obsolete’ by commercial interests,” he says.

Why did you get into printing?

I made fanzines when I was a teenager, and later records so it seemed natural to want to learn how to print so I didn’t have to rely on others to do it for me. This is how it went: photocopier to screen printing to Risograph to offset litho to digital to letterpress. I was also a designer so sent millions of jobs to print over the years

What would be your dream job?

I’m doing it right now

What is your dream bit of kit?

A Monotype composition caster

What is your favourite film?

The Holy Mountain

Who do you admire most in the industry?

Dennis Gould, poet, printer and activist, and Peter Good, writer, printer and teacher

What is your greatest luxury in life?

Sitting down for five minutes occasionally

What is your greatest ambition?

To get to the end of the week in one piece

What’s your greatest fear?

Not seeing the world change for the better

Who or what makes you laugh?

My family, friends and the absurdity of everyday life. Failing that re-runs of Frasier usually work

What piece of kit would you like to see invented?

A time machine

Which celebrity would you like to get out of here? Why?

‘Celebrity Culture’ is utterly depressing and they are welcome to their own self-made hell

Where would you like to be right now?

Stumbling across a load of Italian wood type in Italy

Which superpower would you like to have?

I’d quite like to be able to fly as it’d be a damn sight more quiet than a car and you’d never need a new one

Where would you go if you could time-travel?

I should probably say something like a point in time where I could have put a bet on a horse and become mega rich, but I’d be far more excited to see any of the following: a) The DeLittle Woodtype factory in full production; b) The Stephenson Blake factory in full production; c) The moment when the first first working Monotype composition caster was switched on; d) The moment when the first Heidelberg Platen was switched on

What is the worst kind of print?

Don’t get me started…

How would you like to be remembered?

Honest, sweary, always up for a laugh

Life is…?

A giant game of chess

What was your childhood obsession?

Skateboarding – and I blame that for everything

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