Since 1970
Solnhofen, Germany
Over 50 years of craft
Worldwide partnerships
Every edition begins with stone. Ancient Bavarian limestone, quarried from the same deposits used by the masters of nineteenth-century printmaking.
We work exclusively with Solnhofen limestone. No polymer plates, no photolithography. The stone's natural grain becomes part of every mark the artist makes — an irreplaceable collaboration between geology and gesture.
Each edition is strictly limited. Once the run is complete, the stone is ground flat and returned to the cycle. No reprints, no derivatives. Scarcity is not a marketing strategy — it is an ethical commitment to the work.
Our printers train for a decade before pulling a first edition. The chemistry of grease and water, the weight of the roller, the humidity of the press room — all variables that demand a lifetime of calibrated attention.
Our press room houses three Voirin flatbed lithographic presses, each dating from the early twentieth century. The 1922 Voirin is reserved for our most ambitious collaborative editions.
The limestone slab is levigated with carborundum powder and water until the surface is uniformly grained. This grinding removes all previous images and creates the receptive texture required for drawing.
The artist works directly on the stone with lithographic crayons, tusche, or both. The waxy marks repel water and attract ink — chemistry that transforms touch into multiplication.
A gum arabic and nitric acid solution is applied to chemically fix the image onto the stone. The acid desensitizes unmarked areas to ink while preserving the drawn marks permanently.
The stone is wetted, inked with a leather roller, then pressed against dampened rag paper through the press. Each impression requires a separate pass — no shortcuts, no shortcuts, no approximation.
Each approved impression is signed and numbered by the artist, checked by our master printer, and catalogued. The stone is then ground flat, completing the cycle.
Lithography was invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder in Munich. Since then, artists from Daumier to Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso to Jasper Johns have been drawn to its unique combination of directness and multiplicity.
At OFFSET, we carry this tradition forward not as nostalgia, but as conviction. The stone does not lie. Every hesitation, every confident stroke, every accident — all are preserved with complete fidelity. That honesty is why artists return to stone again and again.
"The stone holds everything the hand does. There is nowhere to hide, and nowhere you would want to."
— Marcus Veil, Master Printer, OFFSET
We accept a limited number of new artist commissions each year. Each project is evaluated on its fit with our practice and the press's current capacity.