Tweede Walstraat 5 6511 LN Nijmegen
The Netherlands
Tel.0031-(0)24-3 888 234
Knust is art's resort of the old stencilmachine (mimeograph in US) and showcase of the digital stencilmachine. Knust has freed it’s bookmaking from artisanity and gave it numerical dimensions. Knust's only convention is the permanent re-inventing of the book; lifting it from the weight of tradition as well as the illusion of the day.
Knust didn't start as a print-workshop but as an edition. Knust began building up their workshops around the stencilmachine. Stencilprinting has a special appeal to Knust and yet no place existed for colour-stencilprinting. Knust went on and now has three graphic workshops: prepress, stencilprint and bookbinding. All are set for low-cost, easy to use do-it-yourself production. There's no need to be a skilled graphic artist. Books in small amounts can be made for prices per book usually thought possible in an industrial production process. Knust started printing on the stencilmachine in the mid eighties. Colour copiers and inkjet printers (or digital processing) weren't an option in those days. Stencilmachines were considered to be obsolete and the technique had (and still has) a reputation of bad quality printing. Knust discovered the stencilmachine to be an ultimate printing machine; for artists or those who are graphically unprejudiced: easy to use, no cleaning, variations and alterations while printing. In series of 75-500 (old machines) or 150 –1000 (digital) is stenciling at its best.
Knust built up it’s print-workshop by re-inventing the old stencilmachine. While taking stenciling beyond what thought was technically possible, the almost vanished stencil-industry developed a digital stencilmachine and made it look like a photocopier. Stencilprinting’s bad reputation made that they try to hide the true nature by pretending it's a totally new concept or a kind of copy-machine by calling it digital duplicator, risograph or priport. They want the machines to be used as photocopy-machines, but there's still ink inside and no toner. Printing on these machines on photo-copy-paper looks worse than a photocopy. If these machines are used like Knust uses the old stencilmachines: on rough paper, colour over colour, they become incredible machines. Meanwhile wanting to keep the (much rougher) old stencilmachines going, Knust had to produce their own stencilink. It looks a lot like oilpaint but is non-drying and greasier. In the beginning Knust didn't know anything about stenciling. To obtain ‘quality’ on the old machines we became stencil-specialists. The digital machine can be used with computer- or traditional lay-out, and is therefore accessible for anyone. Each new generation there'll be an easier, more versatile and much more expensive digital stencilmachine. Knust's original concept was buying only cheap machines. The introduction of the digital machine in the Knust workshop made Knust’s production much higher and with money earned, we could build up the three workshops. The bookbinding workshop doesn't require much knowledge in bookbinding either. The Knust bookmaking is older than Knust stencilprinting. In the beginning it was all offset and then more and more mixed as the quality of home-stenciling grew, to be all stencil in the end.
