Gabriella Marcella felt something in her brain click when she first used a risograph printer. “The process, the immediacy – it resonated,” says the Scottish-Italian designer. “A lot of my aesthetic comes from that machine.” Many artists and creatives share that reaction, and now Marcella has curated an exhibition of international art showcasing their work at Glasgow’s Glue Factory Galleries.
The risograph, created in Japan in the 1980s, is a nifty printer that looks like a photocopier but creates work like a screenprinter. The company that produced it, Riso Kagaku, was founded by Noboru Hayama, a businessman whose goal was to make intuitive and affordable printing products. Using soy inks to produce small print-runs of products with a handmade feel and distinctive style, the risograph print – or riso – has become synonymous with zines, activism and independent creatives.
