HMCT Archetype Press

ArtCenter’s Archetype Press, managed by the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography, is California’s largest letterpress printing facility, providing students with a full-immersion typographic education.

HMCT Archetype Press offers students the unique opportunity to practice what has become a Digital Age rarity: setting type and printing by hand. Archetype’s collection of rare American and European metal foundry type, wood type and ornaments—originally belonging to Vernon Simpson’s legendary typesetting shop in Hollywood—is the largest in California and among the largest of any design school in the country. The extensive metal and wood type collection resides in 2,500 antique wooden drawers. Students learn to set and print type on an impressive set of printing presses: nine Vandercook proof presses, a Chandler & Price platen press and a Heidelberg Windmill press.

Established at the College in 1989, the scope of Archetype Press was expanded in 2015 when the College created the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography, which strives to advance the research, teaching and understanding of letterform design and typography.