Press Repair and Restoration Services

As part of its mission of encouraging the preservation of fine art printmaking and letterpress publishing, the Red Onion Press is offering its services as a small press repair and restoration facility. As demonstrated in the transformation of the 8 x 12 "Old Stilesboro" Chandler and Price platen letterpress,  the shop has the talent and  expertise to help those who are looking to replace that rare missing or broken part. The Red Onion works with schools, artists and printmaking/letterpress enthusiasts to help solve their small press equipment problems. 

Clemens Bak, principal founder of the Red Onion Press Inc has worked on machinery in manufacturing for nearly 35 years including die stamping and rotary printing presses. Bak came to his knowledge of printmaking as the son of two prolific artists and growing up in the family business.  Studio 22 in Chicago in the 1960s had a wide array of printing presses and related shops.  At its high point, Studio 22 was a busy four story workshop. Most of the printing was done on the first floor. The shop included a  Vandercook proof press and a huge cast iron Reliance press well as a litho press and and a set of large litho stones. The shop also included a Gordon letterpress and a wide assortment of type cases, used for the many books produced over the years.  The gallery was on the second floor, above it an etching press and on the top floor a bookbinding workshop. Learn more about Studio 22 here.

As a youth he worked as an offset printer before training as a machinist and industrial maintenance mechanic. Moving his family to Georgia in the 1980's he was hired as a engineer for Fabrico a converter of electronic and electrical materials. Through the years, he worked as a plant maintenance engineer, machine builder and designer, manufacturing engineer and materials testing lab manager before retiring in 2016.  

Contact the Red Onion Press and let us know how we can help you get your small press or printing equipment up and running!