Larina says:: January 2014

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Letterpress in Malaysia

OMG OMG..!! Letterpress in Malaysia ........ (Really) ?!!

I was consumed with excitement when my friend, Jasmine handed me a namecard (which she scouted from Aku Cafe during one of her many cafe-hunts) with the name The Alphabet Press (TAP) letterpress printed on it. (For those who don't know me, I have this weird liking for letterpress cards. Do refer to my post at http://larinaw.blogspot.com/2012/10/love-letterpress-by-larina.html)

So, I was like I have to meet them!! I immediately logged into their website http://thealphabetpress.com (not much info from their website yet but please be assured, I'm sure they are working on it to provide much more details and pictures of the awesome cards they are going to print!) I emailed them for details particularly if they are conducting any workshops or offering any internships. Very prompt reply from them I must say - workshops are definitely on their plate. Sigh, can't wait. The only workshop I attended was one conducted by the Gentlemen Press from Singapore.

I became TAP's stalker overnight (not sure if they've noticed, lol) - I signed up for their newsletter and became their Instagram and Facebook follower. I don't think they are in Twitter yet.. Lol. I finally got to meet the team when I ordered a few of their lovely letterpress printed Chinese New Year cards. Lucky me, their studio is in Petaling Jaya and I was more than happy to collect the cards myself!

My impression of a letterpress studio - old, ancient, papers flying everywhere, ink stain all over the place. You think so too? NOPE. Not for TAP's studio. Totally the opposite. It is clean, organised and oh so modern :) Please contact TAP if you wish to have some personal and unique letterpress cards specially custom designed and printed for you.

Trust me, they ain't like any other ordinary cards.

A few of the productions by TAP

The friendly Zeejay and Cliff,
generously sharing the stories behind the birth of TAP

Us and the giant letterpress machine

A shot of the charming men at work

Not to forget Helios from the team
who is in charge of taking awesome pictures for TAP

Such pretty Chinese New Year letterpress cards
designed and printed by TAP!
Who are the lucky recipients? xoxo

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Kuala Lumpur City Tour

Never had I ever thought that I would ride a bicycle in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city centre. You see, there's a very automatic reaction that transmits from the brain once I heard the word KL city.. - resentful, irritable, grumpy, you name it .. ALL because of the tireless traffic jam! So, it's an extremely rare occasion for me to drive my car to KL city let alone drive a bicycle! Malaysian drivers are (erm..) generally not very friendly - I still value my life.

Besides, I always have the impression that cycling is a leisure activity which is supposed to be carried only in a park. A park under extremely pleasant weather (emphasis added) - Spring in Australia or Britian perhaps? :D

From what I can recall, I cycled a handful of times during high school around my neighbourhood. My brother was bitten by a dog when we were walking around the neighbourhood during our primary school times. And when I got barked at and chased by dogs (not the friendly cuddly mongrels) back then, okay that's it. Bye bye cycling.

I recently started cycling with a bunch of my good friends. Started as a leisure activity around Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), a pretty good place for a freshie like me I must say - just rent a bicycle and return it once you are done. Hassle-free. After a few FIRM sessions, my cyclist friends (all gung-ho ones) tried to convince me to buy a bicycle so that I could join them out-of-FRIM. And well.. yup, I was convinced. But also thanks to TJ who wanted to sell his bicycle after he bought a better one, I got to own a bicycle at a minimum cost. Very costly LEH to play this kind of sports.. I'm now the owner of his Trinx a.k.a Monster. Speaking of which, I haven't paid him even though I have taken over possession of his bicycle. Lol!

And so, I braced KL city with my Monster and I'm glad I came back in one piece. Pheww!

Trinx a.k.a Monster

When the sun rises..

The groupie checking on the bikes before the ride -
Check out the poser Samantha a.k.a Sexy Sham (SS)

Looking good right ??

Cyclists have to follow the road rules too - stop at RED

That's Yun Shyan behind me

That's SS, TJ and Leonard

Leo, Lee and YS so stylo yo!

Selfie at the slope of Thean Hou Temple

Leo doing a "Merlion"

You wanna know what's a Merlion? Erm.. check out the image below. I learnt 'bout it on this day itself. Lesson learnt - don't eat or drink nescafe before you ride! Hahahaha