From a recent visit to Sideshow Press…
In the rear corner of a dusty warehouse on upper Meeting Street, a woman in blue jeans grabs the iron flywheel and pushes it, hard. Another woman flips a switch, and a third watches with a wrench in hand – just in case an adjustment is needed – as the 80-year-old machine begins to whir and clack. Cogs turn and plates press together in a locomotive rhythm. Then the massive contraption spits it out… an impression of an intricate line drawing of a dress pattern, or the tiniest possible font size of a line of type.
The women are pretty and their work is gritty. (Actually, more ink spots and machine oil than grit, but you know what I mean.) Peter Frank shot these images and we put together a photo essay for the May 2007 Charleston Magazine. Sideshow Press owners are Amy Pastre, Courtney Rowson (founder of Gunter Design), and Virginia Page.
– Sandy Lang, May 2007
