Lickety Split Press is a letterpress and specialty printing studio. Every day, we get to work with creatives to take what's in their head and put it in their hands — with a sprinkling of heart in there, too.
Humming along in the heart of Burlington, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, you'll find our little studio. It's where we spend our days trimming, printing, packing, and just generally loving on your special pieces of print. Our studio isn't open to the public, but if you're ever passing through town, we'd love to have you stop by and meet your favorite press.
Emily Zalla cut her teeth as a designer-turned-creative director at a brand agency. On nights and weekends, she puttered around restoring and learning to operate her first press, the 1913 C&P. One press turned into two, then four; nights and weekends turned into all-day-every-day. And every day is better than the last.
Equally essential to the studio's operations is Emily's four-legged sidekick and Head of Quality Assurance, Lincoln. Please send treats.
Emily and Lincoln, along with a tiny but growing team of creatives, craft every piece that leaves our studio. We still don't know how we got so lucky.
Once upon a time, Emily’s dad showed up with a box truck. Inside was a gift — a big ol' hunk of metal, a Chandler & Price New Style press that had been sitting silent for decades. It was an overwhelming act of generosity. (Literally — imagine getting a gift that requires like a year of effort and expense before it’s ready to use. There were some panic attacks involved.)
But that’s the honest truth of where Lickety Split Press started. Hours poring over operator manual archives, dissolving rusted parts in vinegar and researching treadle manufacturers turned into evenings troubleshooting bad impression and flooded type. Until eventually being bad at printing turned into being good at printing. And, somewhere along the way, into loving it.
Thanks for visiting, and for being part of our story.
