Meet Christine Byrne | Letterpress Printer & Greeting Card Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christine Byrne and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine, what matters most to you?
I try to make all of my decisions from a place of honesty and empathy, because I think those are the roots of positive change. You can’t change anything without an honest reckoning with its current state. The motto for my brand Spacepig Press is Honest Cards for Awkward People; to me, that means enabling real connections between people, especially now when it’s weird and hard because the world is trash and feelings are awkward and we’re all a little bit broken. I hope the cards I make help people make those empathetic connections and communicate a little more honestly.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I love paper. My background and career has been in graphic design, and I started with primarily print design. I loved obsessing about paper and production and the tactile experience of the pieces I designed; I think at some point every designer falls in love with letterpress. In 2010 I bought my first little table top press and printed a single run of greeting cards for the holidays that year.

For about 10 years I went back and forth between working in house for fashion and consumer product brands and working for myself as a freelance designer. Every time I took a job working for someone else I got annoyed at NOT being In Charge of All The Things. I really struggle to set limits on my time and energy, and was constantly overworking myself only to watch others reap the profits of my labor. I finally committed to working for myself full time in 2016. During that time the little press sat under a table collecting dust, occasionally getting excavated for a friend’s wedding invitations.

In 2017 my partner and I moved across the country to Sacramento and suddenly I had all this space—physically, mentally, and creatively. I decided I wanted to offer letterpress services alongside my freelance design services. Shortly after that I acquired a larger press through a rather shady Craigslist deal. Once you commit to wrestling a 1500lb hunk of cast iron into your life, the momentum kind of takes over. We got her home, named her Petunia because she’s a delicate flower, then I spent a few months fixing her up, finding parts, troubleshooting, swearing, and digging up 8 years worth of filed away card ideas.

Getting a handle on the business side of a creative business is an ongoing learning experience. That previously mentioned struggle to set time & energy limits continues to haunt me, and I have a hard time letting go of Doing All The Things; I’m still reminding myself it’s ok to ask for help and let go of some things.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
So I don’t have an LA answer for this because I live in Sacramento, but here’s my Sacramento answer:

Two of my favorite things about Sacramento are the wonderful creative community and the excellent beer scene—and how they frequently overlap. We’re doing a little beer tour to hit my favorites: Jackrabbit Brewing, Bike Dog, Device, New Helvetia, Oak Park Brew Co. Somewhere in there we’ll squeeze in a stop at Nash & Proper for the greatest hot chicken known to humankind. Since they’re my bestie, I’ll just assume they want to come help out at a Crafts & Drafts at Drake’s Barn to shop from our amazing local creatives and drink more beers.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Without my partner, Nick, I wouldn’t be where I am today in so many ways, aside from him being the reason I’m even in California. His love, support, encouragement, and patience—and willingness to help me move a 1500lb hunk of cast iron into our garage—keeps me going as a business and as a human. My Grandma absolutely loved sending cards and passed that love onto the rest of my family, who are all incredibly supportive of Spacepig.

Website: https://spacepigpress.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacepigpress/