Type Cases, 2024. Laser cut and painted bass wood miniature with a risograph printed zine.

Type cases are vintage wooden drawers with small compartments that were used by printers to store moveable metal type. As a letterpress printer and a miniaturist the type case is a surprisingly big part of my day-to-day life. In a previous job I explained their function at a printing history museum and now I access them when I’m setting type at the letterpress studio I currently work at. I also have a type case hanging on my wall where I store tiny objects I collect. Among these tiny objects are a collection of miniature type cases.

As much as I adore these miniature type cases, none of them have an accurate layout, they are just a symmetric series of compartments. The compartments in a real type case are laid out in a specific order to allow printers to set their type as efficiently as possible. It occurred to me than many people might not be aware of the type case’s original function and were only familiar with it as a decorative object. I laser cut a miniature with the layout of a California Job Case and created a zine to educate people on the original history and purpose of the zine while also celebrating its newfound function in people’s homes.