⬆️ Gianni (above in the vest) photographed working with clients on a letterhead print job.
Amanda and I took a quick train over to Venice last weekend to experience a day of Carnevale (those photos are slated for the next post). We planned a stop at a letterpress shop we stumbled upon six years ago when we came to Venice together for the first time. “Gianni Basso Stampatore” is a multi-generational letterpress shop and museum in the heart of Venice. Gianni is incredibly nice and was more than happy to allow me to take photos in the print and museum spaces of his shop. It was super neat to see him build a letterhead project for clients in real time—he’s fast and great with people. Gianni’s son helps him run the shop today, but they were both preceded by at least two older generations of Bassos working in this space (as evidenced by the foot marks worn into the base of the press photographed above). It’s heartening to see this shop still thriving today amidst so much change. Amanda and I purchased a hefty stack of v-folded cards for correspondence as well as bookmarks for gifts and we were on our way. The next stop was for lunch at our favorite restaurant in Venice, CoVino. There we had an amazing lunch and great conversation with new friends we met sitting at the table next to us. It was sad to see some of the canals running low, as we’ve experienced at least a month of no rain and poor air quality here in the Po River Basin area. Many people we’ve spoken to that have grown up in this area have never seen drought like this before. The last year of weather here has been very concerning. Really hoping for some rain and cleaner air soon. Gotta press pause for now—alla prossima.
✍️➕📓➕🎨 ➕🕰