Starshaped Press

Starshaped Press is a Chicago letterpress stationery studio led by Jennifer, principal designer and printer, operating since 1999 with a focus on historic metal and wood type. Starshaped Press prints exclusively in-house designs using antique metal and wood type rather than polymer plates, with an emphasis on limited edition, heirloom ephemera on sustainably sourced papers. Jennifer began at Fireproof Press in Chicago in 1996, founded Starshaped Press in 1999, served as Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum Visiting Artist for 2019 to 2022, received a Newberry Library Weinberg Fellowship in 2018, and has print work featured in multiple STA 100 appearances as well as How and uppercase magazines. Couples who have worked with Jen on wedding invitations describe collaborative design processes involving paper, ink colors, and envelope selection, with one couple receiving an original hummingbird illustration drawn from historic type specimens and another praising the use of century-old metal type suited to a vintage venue.