STUDIO VISIT | Paper Chase Press

With so much book publishing going digital, paper printing going overseas, and old institutional printers closing their doors, it's a rare thing to find a press that's as mighty, independent and artful as Paper Chase Press. Last week I stopped by to talk with second generation owner and printer Nicole Katz, who took over the press four years ago from her parents who founded it in 1976. Paper Chase Press has created books and materials for clothing lines, design firms, museums and artists (if we're naming names: Levi's, Sleepy Jones, Wes Lang, Commune and MoCA are a few of note), and really stands out as a Mom-and-Pop shop with a big future.

Katz, who has been in the office since she was two weeks old, began working for her parents when she was a teenager. Mostly she is proud that Paper Chase makes everything, "we don't job it out, we do everything right here," she said.

Paper Chase Press makes custom business cards, post cards, hang tags, soft and hard bound books, cards, portfolios and posters that are of the utmost hand-made quality—and they even have InDesign templates which you can download. And while Paper Chase is a custom paper goods and publishing gold mine, they also have a wonderful array of retail products available online as well, from leather notebooks to artist-designed playing cards, to these Conspiracy Theory notebooks (one of which jumped into my bag before I left), and in three weeks time their studio on Sunset Boulevard will be open with a brick and mortar store that will showcase and sell their retail goods as well. [7176 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles].