Maison Riso

How would you describe what you do?

Thibault: "What I do is very similar to craftsmanship. But what I offer is an approach to printing, an approach to images, and above all an understanding of the project of an artist, publisher or photographer. I often say that I offer printed objects, because it will always be publishing, always paper. So yes, I have an art printing company, but we are very close to craftsmanship, with expertise and machines that are sometimes old, no longer exist, or whose brands have disappeared. We maintain them ourselves, we use them. It's a very special craft, and that's also what we sell. Because today, printing is easy, but making beautiful editions is an art."

What led you to start this project?

Thibault: "It was in 2017, so not that long ago. There was already this movement back to basics, to manual labor. I came from the world of art and photography, and I felt that the world of printing had become very closely linked to digital technology. We look at everything on a screen, but we no longer really know what happens between the screen and the printed object. I saw an impoverishment of the culture of printing, of the relationship to the printed image. I wanted to recapture that moment of love at first sight when you discover a print, a texture, an ink. I started out with risography, hence the name Maison RISO. What interested me was using a machine that wasn't originally designed for art printing to do something creative. A kind of piracy, a form of graphic hacking. Then I moved on to other techniques, but that's where it started: offering a different, alternative printing experience."

Photography credits: Chloé Ranc.

Repose Archive is a creative direction journal documenting processes and projects across art, design, architecture, and hospitality.