Meet the Makers: Jack from Robert Smail’s Printing Works

Tell us about Robert Smail’s Printing Works:

Robert Smail’s Printing Works is a letterpress printer based in Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders. Letterpress printing is a relief printing method that uses individual blocks of letters and symbols, each set in place by hand to compose a piece of text. The blocks (or ’sorts’) are made of lead or wood for larger letters.

The printing works were established in 1866 by Robert Smail. He came to Innerleithen from Jedburgh and initially ran a different shop selling shoes and books. Following the arrival of the railway in Innerleithen in 1850 and the establishment of textile mills, the town expanded, creating a market for printed materials.

What makes Robert Smail’s Printing Works unique?

Next year, Smail’s will have been continually operational as a jobbing printer in its original site for 160 years, and we believe this makes us the oldest in the UK. We use our historic printing presses (including a treadle-operated 1920s Arab platen and an 1886 Wharfedale Reliance press) and type collections dating from around 1890–1914 to create our posters, greetings cards, stationery sets and postcards. 

Who designs and makes the products at Smail’s?

Traditionally, a compositor or type-setter (now often referred to as a graphic designer) and a printer were separate jobs, with distinct apprenticeships and unions. We proudly continue this tradition, with two members of staff creating Smail’s printed work: I’m the Compositor, and Colin McLeod is our Printer.

Colin’s background is in modern printing, and he was trained to use letterpress machines by timeserved printer, Tony Niepold, at Smail’s. I learned how to set type at the Edinburgh College of Art. 

Do you have any sustainable credentials you’d like to mention?

Letterpress is used to best effect on uncoated paper and card, and so we never use plastic laminates or coatings. This year, we have been moving towards printing our greeting cards exclusively on recycled card and envelopes, and removing cellophane from our packaging. 

What’s your favourite product that you supply, and what was the inspiration behind creating it?

Currently, I’m most pleased with our recycled stationery set. This set includes printed writing paper, envelopes, postcards, and mini notecards, presented in an elegant black gift box. The idea was to find ways to package the stationery without plastic and make it feel special and elevated. 

What’s your favourite thing about Robert Smail’s Printing Works?

I’m very fond of our wooden display type collections. We have some lovely typefaces, and they’re very pleasing as objects as well. Smail’s also has a nice worn-in feel, which makes the spaces feel welcoming.

What is Robert Smail’s Printing Works’ proudest moment?

Next year, we’ll celebrate 160 years of printing in Innerleithen and 40 years since the Trust saved the printing works for the nation. Smail’s is an important piece of industrial history, both through our printing equipment and archives, as well as the links between Smail’s and the textiles industry. I’m very proud that we’re still going.

What is your other favourite Trust place?

We visited Culzean Castle & Country Park for a few years in a row when I was a child. Now I think of it as the (exterior of) Lord Summerisle’s castle (from the film The Wicker Man)! 

What do you love about Scotland?

I like small towns with a strong creative community like Innerleithen, where we still have a high street, but the fields and woods are only moments away. Also, our languages, both Auld Scots and Gaelic.

Shop the Robert Smail’s Printing Works collection online