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[title]Have you ever wanted to create your own design for a T-shirt, tote bag or anything else inspired by your imagination? Print House, a screenprinting store offering custom designs, DIY services and workshops, has been here to help for the last two years. Tucked away down a quiet back street of Stanley Market, the store has recently expanded its operations to offer digitally printed designs.
Hughie Doherty, who runs the shop alongside his brother Matt and girlfriend Akiko, was keen to open the store after working with stencils in the creation of street art and because of an interest in tattoo-style ink sketching. ‘‘There was a lot of trial and error and practice in the beginning,’’ he tells us. Inspired by previous creations on the
walls of many tattoo parlours and a desire to offer customisable designs, Doherty recalls: “That’s where the idea came from for the screen print do-it-yourself aspect. [At Print House] you can come in and choose from our ready-made designs and print them straight away or come up with your own custom composition, which is a little bit different to the way other screen print workshops do it.” Apart from offering their own stencils, Print House also allows custom stencils and computer designs to be printed.
Expanding their services via the addition of a digital printer was a big step for the team. The new machine offers greater flexibility and faster turnaround times. Despite such newfangled digital wizardry, Doherty insists: ‘‘We’re not taking away from the screen print side of things and we still like to pride ourselves on being a screen printing workshop. We just also offer custom digital prints as well.’’
Having recently worked with local artists and street art festival HKwalls, Print House are becoming more involved in the local art community. They’re also currently working on a brand new online/offline platform involving collaborations with artists. Offering the creative community a chance to get involved is something Doherty has wanted to do since day one. But where will the offline activities take place? ‘‘Stanley is home,’’ says Doherty, ‘‘and we don’t have plans to leave any time soon.’’
Print House LG/F, 125 Stanley Main St, Stanley; printhouse.hk.