55 Questions to Get to Know Alex, Founder of Terrace Press
Personal & Lifestyle
- Married, Single or Dating?
Married - you can see more about my wedding here. -
What’s your daily ritual?
Once my two boys are in bed I like to go to my room & do my skincare before its bedtime.
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Coffee or tea?
Green Tea these days - I haven’t had a coffee in over two years… and I used to drink 3 a day!
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Last meal on Earth?
Steak Tartare and a glass of Perrier-Jouët Champagne
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Mountains or Ocean?
Mountains
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Favourite Colour?
A Red & Pink Combo
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What song is currently on repeat in your studio?
Anything Harry Styles
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Who would play you in a movie about your life?
Anne Hathaway
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A fragrance that feels like “home”?
iKOU’s De-stress essential oil is always burning
- What’s always in your handbag?
Lanolips 101 Ointment -
Dream travel destination?
Austrian Alps
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Cats or Dogs?
I like both, but love our Cavoodle, Whisky
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What’s your star sign? Does it fit you?
Capricorn. I think so.. Responsible, Hardworking & Loyal
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A piece of advice you live by?
Be Kind. Always
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Whats your most vivid core memory?
Seeing the Aurora Borealis in Finland on our honeymoon.
Wedding Photo | Alana Taylor Photography // Studio Pup Whisky // Aurora in Finland
Creativity -
What does a perfect workday look like for you?
I am not a morning person, so a slow morning would be great, then get stuck into anything that involves numbers, quoting, invoicing, ordering. Once thats done I would spend a couple of hours printing & doing finishing work like cutting, duplexing, lining envelopes etc. Then later afternoon / evening is when I feel most creative to do design changes and concepts. -
First time you fell in love with print?
Gosh, my earliest memories are the smell of plate processing chemicals at my dads work when I would go in on sick days, probably when I was about 4/5 years old. I would make collages with prints laying around, draw on spare paper and some of the designers would draw me line drawings for me to colour in. I have always been around it and have always loved the feeling of paper in my hands.
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How did you become fourth-generation printer in your family?
My Great Grandfather was a letterpress printer at Cumberland Newspapers. My Pop then followed in his footsteps, becoming an apprentice compositor (typing on big ludlow machines to create lead type for the letterpress machines) for the Government Print Office in Sydney. My Dad then did and apprenticeship as a platemaker, going on to own different printing business' within the industry. I didn't really know what I wanted to do during high school - I just knew I wanted to do something creative & not always at a desk. I took a gap year working at a ski resort and a pre-press & printing course came up at Billy Blue, so I enrolled and the rest is history.
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The first thing you ever designed or printed?
My first letterpress print was a wedding invitation for a friends older brother when I was 21.
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Your favourite part of the letterpress process?
There is something magical about mixing the ink.
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Foil stamping or embossing?
Embossing. -
One word to describe your studio vibe?
Considered. Because every detail, from paper stock to the final impression, is intentional.
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What inspires your design aesthetic?
The end result… if I’m designing a letterpress print I am always thinking about how certain shapes and line weights will impress into the paper.
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Favourite font family of all time?
Baskerville
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What’s the biggest challenge in bringing a couple’s vision to life?
Getting to the heart and narrowing down what they’re actually after. Sometimes you will open up their Pinterest board and it is such a varied array of ideas, almost like they’re planning entirely different weddings within the one board.
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Dream collaboration?
CJ Hendry -
If you weren’t in printing, what would you be doing?
Snow skiing.
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What does “craftsmanship” mean to you?
Not cutting corners
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Biggest trend you’re excited about for 2026?
The continuation of treating a wedding like a brand. Creating a ‘logo’, having the ‘branding’ & ‘messaging’ consistent across all touch points. And of course the expansion of merch / branded pieces.
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What’s a detail couples add to stationery that makes you smile?
Anything thats really personal to them, usually something that only makes sense to the people attending the wedding. I've had couples get me to draw monograms that include artdeco elements from the facade of their first home, to individual messages for their guests within the menus. Anything personal always gets me.
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If you could only design in one colour palette forever, what would it be?
Blacks, Browns, Creams, Almonds…
Skiing // Werner & Ernst in Transit // My Pop Fred, Compositing Room
Business -
Why the name Terrace Press?
Because I am obsessed with the intricacies of a Victorian Era Terrace House. The bay windows, intricate iron lacework, high ceilings, decorative cornices and ceiling roses, stained glass windows, and ornate tiles or timber floors. Just so much craftsmanship throughout the whole house.
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What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a business owner?
That its impossible to wear all the hats - its ok to outsource what aren’t your strengths.
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What’s the most surprising thing about running a letterpress studio?
How little variety in resources / suppliers we have here in Australia compared to Europe and the USA. For example our paper variety is so small, with most unavailable in stock here or needing to be imported which shipping is so expensive these days. -
Your favourite memory with a client couple?
Some of my Covid couples were really special. The extended time that we were working together, changing plans, extra zooms - it was really lovely to get to know these couples on an even deeper level and going through the highs and lows of it all together.
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How do you balance creativity with the practical side of running a business?
It’s not always easy. I find time blocking helpful so that I am not jumping from a design to paying bills.
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What’s the best compliment you’ve received about your work?
That it is even better than what they anticipated.
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If Terrace Press were a cocktail, what would it be?
A French 75
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How do you celebrate a big project finished?
With a quiet / slow morning.
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What’s one behind-the-scenes secret about the printing process?
It’s not glamorous. These machines require a lot of oil and grease, so I am quite dirty during the printing process.
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Your most treasured piece of printing equipment?
My Great Grandfather's make-ready book, filled with all prints he did from 1916 onwards as well as my Pop's loose type, ruler & his loop (magnifying eye glass).
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How do you see Terrace Press evolving in the next 5 years?
I see us in a bigger studio that houses all of my machines under one roof.
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How do you want couples to feel when they first hold their stationery?
Like they can close their eyes and see their whole wedding day.
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What’s one piece of stationery you still hold onto in your own life?
I have a beautiful set of stationery I bought from a store in Florence, Italy. I use it for VERY special letters. I could make my own to replace them, but it’s just so beautiful!
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If you could design invitations for any couple (past, present, or fictional), who would it be?
Taylor and Travis. I feel like she is so creative and they would have the budget to try anything.
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A printing technique you think is underrated?
Overprinting… not a lot of prints utilise this, but it is where one colour overlaps another and creates a third colour -
Your dream project outside of weddings?
To create a line of personalised stationery / letter writing kits.
1916 Prints from my Great Grandfather // Mixing Letterpress Inks // Overprinting Pink & Yellow to get Orange
Quick Fire Fun
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Letterpress ink colour you’d use forever?
Black
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Stationery item you can’t live without?
Pilot FriXion Pen
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Paper stock: textured or coloured?
Textured
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Favourite flower?
Tulip
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Instagram or Pinterest?
Pinterest
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Calligraphy or typography?
Calligraphy
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Champagne or Cocktails?
Both! That's like picking between my children!
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What’s the legacy you hope to leave through your work?
That future generations will still come across our work — a wedding invitation tucked into an album, a menu folded into a memory box — and feel the permanence of print.
Champagne in Épernay // Looking at print through a loop // Personalised Stationery
