Stalling the impromptu tour Chris Dreyer stopped to brew a pot of coffee. Chris likes coffee. It is a good thing then that he works as an artist for Doma Coffee...and they give him lots of it.Chris strides around a Superhero, confident in his disguise of ink stained clothing and a messy workspace. He has a new studio downtown (over on Pacific just off Brown). It is nuzzled up against the train tracks in an old brick warehouse. There are a handful of creatives that rent the converted building.
In Spokane when one drops the name Dryer Press, it comes with a certain reverence that is hard to explain. I had first heard about him a couple years ago at the Terrain Show. I was told he had printed the Zine pamphlet; and the way everyone kept saying "Dreyer Press" I knew he was special. Maybe it was something about Chris himself...his humor and casualness, or the fact that here was a local guy printing out of his garage with a hundred year old press he taught himself to use, or maybe even the shear talent of the man...whatever it is Chris = amazing!Standing around you notice a sort of underlying romance with antiquated technology. The largest thing in the room is the letterpress, followed closely by the paper cutter (both of which I am eternally jealous of). He told me he cuts designs/shapes out with an exact-o knife before scanning them into the computer, instead of a light table he has a vintage window with a desk lamp, and ink mixing happens on top of the garbage can. Happy! Don't you just want to hug him? I wonder if the press has a name?
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