E110: Handmade Prints, Real Forest Impact: Gingerly Press Prioritizes Craft & Community

What makes Lindsay Schmittle with Gingerly Press a good neighbor?  

Think those razor-sharp prints must be digital? Meet Lindsay Schmittle of Gingerly Press, who proves that century-old presses and hand-set type can outshine a screen. We invite you into her Lawrenceville studio to feel the rhythm of movable type, carved geometric blocks, and inks mixed by hand-then hear how this tactile craft becomes clean, contemporary art with real-world impact.

We trace Lindsay’s path from visual communications student to letterpress artist determined to “control the Control‑P.” She shares how adult-Lego layouts of vintage metal and wood type build each composition, why many people mistake the results for digital, and how polymer plate printing differs from true handset work. The conversation opens up to the heartbeat of her brand: sustainability and story. Every product plants a tree in a U.S. National Forest- over 4,200 so far- while the designs channel earth tones, outdoor textures, and a deep love for the trails around Pittsburgh. You’ll hear the backstory of her Appalachian Trail series, with a print for every hundred miles, created to spotlight the small wonders lost in the so-called green tunnel.

Community is the other pillar. Lindsay runs beginner-friendly workshops where you can lock up type, pull your own prints, and take home editions made on presses from the early 1900s. From monthly public classes to custom private sessions for friends, families, and scout troops, the studio becomes a space to slow down, connect, and learn by doing. We also trade favorite local hikes- Frick Park, Laurel Highlands, Allegheny National Forest-and talk about how time outdoors shapes design choices and keeps craft grounded.

If you’re curious about screen-free creativity, sustainable art, and the joy of making something you can feel, this conversation is your invitation. Explore Gingerly Press at gingerlypress.com, follow @GingerlyPress on Instagram, and join the monthly newsletter for studio stories and behind-the-scenes photos. If the show resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves good paper, and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find us.

To learn more about Gingerly Press go to: 

gingerlypress.com

Gingerly Press 

‪(412) 450-0641

Transcript

Welcome & Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.

What Is Gingerly Press

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a creative getaway with community? Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, artist and owner of Gingerly Press, Lindsay Schmidtl. Lindsay, how's it going? Hi, how's it going, Lila? Very well. Thanks for being here. We're excited to learn all about you and your business. So please tell us more about your company.

The Old-School Letterpress Method

Beginner Workshops In Lawrenceville

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah. So my name is Lindsay. I am I operate under the name Gingerly Press, and I create a line of letterpress prints, art prints for your walls, and also stationary for notebooks, cards, recipe cards, gift tags, kind of all the little paper things. And yeah, I operate in the old form of letterpress printing. So letterpress printing is super old. It dates back to the 1440s with Gutenberg. And I'm basically using all these old little pieces, movable types, so metal type, wood type, carved blocks that I am piecing together to build my designs and make my prints. And then I also offer workshops in my studio. And my studio is based in Lawrenceville. And my workshops, they're all designed for beginners, and people can come in and basically try their hand at this really old craft and walk away with a set of prints that they made themselves.

From Design School To Press Life

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Very unique. How did you get into this business of creating these prints and these magical art pieces for people?

Misconceptions About Letterpress

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Thanks. Yeah, I had studied graphic design at the University of Delaware. Technically, it was visual communications. And through that process, I basically before college was all hands-on with art making. And then when I went to school, everything became on the computer by junior year. It was like every single project was on the computer. And I just got really um kind of antsy about it. And it wasn't my thing that I was into. And there was a letterpress studio in the fine art building. Um, and I went over there, kind of putzed around, and just fell in love with it. It was allowing me to basically what I say control the control P. So, like the printing option on a computer. It's like I I would get frustrated when you know things weren't printing the right colors or the right size or anything. And but I can control it when I was in the letterpress studio because I could make all my own inks. Um, I could, you know, size and piece everything together. It was very hands-on. I would be doing something different every day. Um, and I wasn't in front of a screen the whole time. And it was really analog and really fun. So um really fell in love with it there. And then after school, I collected some equipment of my own, started my business in half of my parents' garage. Um, and slow and steady, developed a product line and eventually moved my business to Pittsburgh in August 2019. Um, yeah, and now I'm in an 800 square foot studio um in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Um, and yeah, and I'm really grateful to have this opportunity to create artwork for a living and teach people about the craft of letterpress printing.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Very cool. Yeah, Lawrenceville is like the perfect neighborhood to be in for anything artsy. And I think all of the best businesses start out of, you know, a garage or um kind of a familiar space like that. So congratulations on your growth story. My late grandfather was actually a wood carver and he would carve like prints. Um there are so many different misconceptions in this industry and maybe some myths. Um, would you like to discuss any in particular today?

Carved Blocks And Polymer Plates

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I do a lot of markets and a lot of people come and see my work in person. And because I have like really crisp lines and my prints and I print really solidly, um, they think it's digital. Um, and I'm like, oh no, it's painstakingly analog. It is like tediously piecing together. I call it my adult Legos essentially, where I am basically taking all these little pieces of vintage type and geometric shapes and piecing them together, like I'm building a form and then I'm running that through a big old printing press. My oldest press is over a hundred years old from 1915. And um, yeah, I'm working basically with all antiques and vintage pieces to create the artwork. Um, speaking of your grandfather, I also um carve blocks as well. So if it's not handset type, it's a carved block that I'm designing, carving, um, and those are some of the bigger geometric shapes in my work. Um, yeah, and I would say that that's a big misconception. There's like another form of letterpress printing out today that's called polymer plate printing. Um, and that's using a digital image to create a plate that then gets printed on the same presses, but it doesn't have all those little pieces, the the Lego part that's piecing it all together. So a lot of the time it's like a lot of people think, oh, it's either digital or it's polymer plate. And it's neither of those. It's it's the old school way, it's how newspapers used to be printed, um, it's how pretty much everything with type used to be printed up until like the mid-20th century. Um, and that's what I use today to create all of my work.

Audience, Sustainability, And Style

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Wow. So there is like this common misconception whenever people are viewing your work just because it's so precise that it is done on a computer, but it's really just that attention to detail that you have and like that slow analog process, which I feel like you probably love because it is that hands-on work and having control over your process too. And it sounds like you're doing um art that is subtractive, right? Like taking away from the wooden block, but also then you're talking about um adding you know these different block pieces to create the form. So I think the combination of those probably ends up giving you some really unique pieces and some different layers to your art that is probably just lovely. I I need to look more into um some of your work. I'm really excited to take a deeper dive there. Um so as we as we know that marketing is kind of the heart of every business, right? Do you have a specific target market and how are you attracting them to your business right now?

Story-Driven Prints From The Trail

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, um, I tend to lean towards a lot of outdoorsy people. A lot of my work is very based on the outdoors. It's about my own adventures in the outdoors or other environmentalist uh kind of sustainability is the forefront forefront of my business in a lot of ways. Um, every product plants a tree in a U.S. National Forest. I've got a little small business partnership with them. Um, and as of this past year, we've planted over 4,200 trees, which is awesome. Um, and um so yeah, I tend to attract the the outdoorsy type or the designer type. Um, those are my two kind of customers a lot of the time. Um, people who are looking to have a piece of work, a piece of artwork on their walls that is usually contemporary, um, with geometric shapes, earth-toned, and um and reminds them of a special place in the outdoors. Um, I have done um art collections about my Appalachian Trail through hike in 2017, um, where I basically did a print for every hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail. Um, and it was all basically pointing out all the small beauties of nature um along the trail, because everybody kind of writes off the trail as a green tunnel. And so I was like, no, I'm determined to shut like share with people like who don't have the opportunity to go leave work for six months and hike a trail, um to be able to go see like all the little details of nature, um, as long as you like slow down and listen. And so all of my artwork has a story behind it. Um, and uh yeah, I think I attract people who are looking for story, who are looking for um nature, that something reminds them to get outside, um, people who care about the environment and care that I'm planting a tree and that I'm doing sustainable practices in my business. Um yeah, it's a yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yeah, it's also a reminder, I think, whenever you even walk by a painting that's one bot of yours just to slow down, you know, and to appreciate and savor the moment. And I'm seeing some of the ones on the wall behind you there. It's it's definitely giving like that nature vibe, maybe a little bit of a mid-century modern kind of um take on things. So I love that. I have a little uh mid-century modern ranch, I could definitely see some of that art fitting in here. Um so have you ever thought about doing like an artistic discussion in order to reach your audience, maybe through a podcast or something of that sort?

Teaching, Community, And Private Workshops

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Um, I have not thought about doing a podcast. I I definitely like talk to a lot of students. I talk to like I talk to, I'm very connected with like my maker community. Um, I do, I have thought about teaching a course that is something coming up that could be cool. Um and then I also I like connecting with my community kind of on the smaller setting, um, where I'm connecting with them in my workshops a lot of the time or at a market. Um, and I think that that's it's really fun to connect with people with the hands-on medium in my workshops because uh people, it's kind of hard to explain letterpress when you don't have it in front of you. And so when people are there in front of it in the studio, they're seeing the presses, they're operating with the presses, um, they're getting to use the whole entire same collection of pieces and vintage blocks that I use for my own work. And then they have a chance to use so much for their for themselves. There's such a big collection here that like they can make work that looks completely different than mine. Um, yeah, and I think that that's how I really prefer on like a more intimate level to connect with people in small groups. So I teach public workshops at my studio where I have one a month generally, one to two a month listed on my site. But then I also teach private workshops. And those are really fun because it's like a community that's coming together that is like their own little bubble. It's like a group of friends that's celebrating a birthday or a bachelorette party or a family. Um yeah, and I've had some really awesome groups come through. I'm actually teaching a group of Girl Scouts on Sunday to get their book binding badge with me. So it'll be really fun. So yeah, so that's an example of a private workshop. Um, they're the same price of tickets as my regular public workshops. You just need six people to book one. Um, and then you have like flexibility of schedule and the ability to make it a little more custom to you. Um, so yeah, I'm really excited for this Girl Scout group on Sunday.

Vintage Presses And Savoring Art

Hiking, Gardening, And Local Trails

SPEAKER_02 11:39

It's Girl Scout cookie season. I'm gonna get my orders in. Well, I also love that you use those vintage presses. It's like that's speaking an essence into your work in and of itself. I mean, I really feel like any piece of art, right? It's it has an essence to it, but so often we don't pause to enjoy the way that the art is speaking to us. Um, even in galleries, you know, people go to galleries and you just kind of drift by an artwork. Um, but if you actually sit with the essence of something and understand how that art is speaking to you, um, and only certain people will understand whenever I say that. Um but I really think that, you know, taking your time with the piece to really appreciate it and look at the composition and understand the vibrational aspects of that piece and what the essence of it is, like that's really what is special to me about um experiencing art. So uh I love that. And I think that sometimes whenever you have natural elements within the art too, that just adds like another layer of life force to the piece. And so I love that um you get to use not only natural materials but also like vintage presses and things in your makings of your work. So that's really exciting. Umside of work, what else do you do for fun, Lindsay?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Um, I do a lot of hiking, so I'm a big hiker. Um, I love hiking around. I love I moved to Pittsburgh because it's such a great um easy access to the outdoors. I'm from eastern Pennsylvania and you had to drive so much further to get to like a trail that had any elevation gain. Um, but here in Pittsburgh, you can find that anywhere pretty much, I feel like so. Um yeah, I love hiking. I go on the Rachel Carson Trail, Frick Park, um, Gertie's Run over in Millvale, um the Laurel Highlands, um, Allegheny National Forest. Um, they're all great spots. Um, and then I also do a lot of gardening. I just love being outside. Um, I think I'm I've been dubbed the the moss queen, like where I just like love petting moss and like looking at fungus and things, and I'm a nerd in the garden where I just I try to shove as many plants in my tiny little plot as I can. Um yeah, I just I love my hands in the dirt, love my feet in the dirt. Um, I just love being out in nature, I think um is a lot of what I like to do for fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

We're one in the same. I I have a little iris collection that I've been trying to grow outside, like collecting different colors, and even people on um like Facebook will like trade their irises from their garden with me. And so that's really exciting to like get the different colors out in the yard. And um, have you ever been to Fall Run? It's a little park with um a trail, and then at the end of the trailhead, it's like one of the tallest waterfalls in western Pennsylvania. It's such a gem if you haven't gotta make it out there.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

I don't think I've been there yet, so I'm adding it to the list for 2026.

Core Values Of Gingerly Press

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Yeah, and it's like right here in Pittsburgh, too. It's it's not far at all. So um, that's one of my favorite spots, and there's always people like waiting in the water at the bottom of the waterfall on a nice day and going swimming, and it's just a really lovely hike. Um so excellent. Um, Lindsay, please tell our listeners one thing that should stick with them or should be imprinted on their mind whenever they're thinking about Gingerly Press. No pun intended there.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Um, I would say that Gingerly Press is a place for um community, um, loving of the earth. Um, and it's it's a it's a place that you can come to and get those vibes, but then also um you can take home some of those vibes, I guess, and like have them on your walls and use them in your day-to-day. Um yeah, love for the planet, um just yeah, I I would say I was like, I feel like there's too many things. Like I would say, uh, yeah, love for the planet and um craft, um, care. I I um yeah, gingerly press, the name comes from the tedious craft of of handset letterpress and taking the time to do that, besides the fact that I'm also a redhead. But um yeah, it's it's um a really careful handmade craft, and you can try it out yourself. Um, and you can take home a piece of mine, you can take home your own pieces that you created in a workshop, and um yeah, it's a really welcoming community here in the studio. So yeah, we'd love to have you.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

You can feel that vibe through through the screen here. So well, thank you so much for your time today. Um, how can our listeners learn more about Gingerly Press whenever they're interested in seeking out your company?

Where To Find Lindsay Online

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yeah, um, you can go to gingerlypress.com. Um, that's where kind of my little corner of the internet is. I also am on Instagram um at Gingerly Press, and you can follow along on like kind of somewhat regular press, you know, studio postings. Um, if you're on my website, I would encourage you to sign up for my newsletter too. I send out a nice monthly newsletter. It just went out yesterday, actually. Um, but I'll send out a nice newsletter. I like to say I put a lot of pretty pictures in there. I have some behind the scenes in the studio, some fun links that are things that are inspiring me these days. Um, and I really, really love my newsletter audience. So um, yeah, I would say those three places are good spots.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Oh, I love that. Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for being on this show today. We appreciate you being here, and we wish you and Gingerly Press the best moving forward. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

It was so great having being here.

Show Closing & Nominate A Business

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppittsburgh.com. That's gnppittsburgh.com or call 412 561 9956.