Durham Farmer's MarketBy Dave Wofford

During my senior year at NC State’s School of Design, I attended a visiting designers lecture. When he was asked his opinion of a book he had designed, he admitted he hadn’t read it as he doesn’t have time to read the books he designs. Mustering up the vim and vigor of an idealistic 22-year-old, I vowed I would not become like this. It may very well be the way of the world, but it was not going to become my world. After graduating in 1994, I headed for the hills of Mitchell County and the Penland School of Craft where I participated in the Core Student work/study fellowship program. Learning from a revolving group of visiting craftspersons, I concentrated in letterpress printing, bookbinding and papermaking. I gained inspiration from potters and metal workers who were making functional, everyday items and turning the use of utilitarian objects into elevated acts of aesthetic enjoyment. In 1996, Horse & Buggy Press was established at Antfarm - a still active self-governing artisan cooperative established by a group of fellow School of Design graduates. We eventually made our way to Durham in 2003 where I co-founded the Bull City Arts Collaborative - contributing the the revitalization of Durham’s downtown. The 20th anniversary of H&B was celebrated with retrospectives at Cassilhaus and the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh. Exhibitions included author readings and talks with artists whose works I had turned into book editions over the years. That same year, I was honored to be one of the Core Fellows profiled in the book Inspired: Life in Penland’s Resident Artist and Core Fellowship Programs. As of February 2017, my studio is an old grocery store at 1116 Broad Street. Often curating exhibits around the Durham area. In the studio, I work as designer/art director/project manager/typesetter/production coordinator on all things ink on paper. While the beginning years of the studio were heavily focused on in-house letterpress printing, we have transitioned away from the letterpress in order to work on a wider range of projects that have more content to sink our design teeth into.