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Irrelevant Press https://ift.tt/3yiNsrQ Irrelevant Press is a zine collective and online store made up a group of friends who met in Oakland California: Mollie Underwood, Holly Meadow-Smith, Lizz Carlton, and Sarah Burke. The four of them have been working together since 2014 to create and publish zines, which typically explore the internet and contemporary culture. They also print and produce zines for other artists whose works have focused on everything from illustration to education. IP is a passion project and side-gig for all involved; none of them are academically or professionally trained in the arts, so affordability and access is central to all of their projects. “As a collective, our biggest motivation for making is building community around the specific content we print. We love making things with first time zinesters and collaborating with new artists. To us, zine culture is all about accessibility, so we try to provide a platform that removes any barriers to entry and priorities queer and trans folks and people of colour. In order to afford free printing resources for community organisers and activists, we’ll also take on projects for larger organisations.” Mollie is IP’s printing expert and is based in Oakland where she runs their West Coast studio. When she’s not folding zines, Mollie works at cultural institutions and presses in the East Bay. Lizz works alongside Mollie in Oakland and is responsible for their annual Mercury Retrograde calendar, which has become popular with IP followers. She has also recently completed her degree in Conservation and Resource studies, and is currently supporting the design of restorative residential ecosystems around the Bay Area. Holly runs the Brooklyn studio out of their basement and is the resident Excel whiz. Their day job is in the tech industry, but their passion lies in what is created after hours on their small press. Sarah is also based in Brooklyn, and is responsible for editing many IP projects. On top of her editing career, she also takes on freelance in podcast producing and consulting for a magazine. The collective also importantly note that they all own “very cute cats”. IP’s practice and process has hugely evolved over the years, and today they conduct a lot more printing, publishing, and distribution for others. Most of the time, folks approach IP with a finalised idea, already laid out and just about ready for print. Mollie or Holly then work with the artists on paper and binding decisions, and guide on the best way to get the projects out into the world. More collaborative projects often involve artists coming in with ideas which IP then create design / layout / content work for or vice versa. Mollie has worked with artists from Singapore and Germany on print projects after building relationships over email, which speaks to the strong and real community around print and zines. During the last year of quarantine IP been invited to join panels and teach classes on zine making which they have found to be “really rewarding and fun”. As a result, the collective are looking to build in these sorts of opportunities for education and involvement across a broader audience moving forward. They conclude; “The motivation for maintaining Irrelevant Press has always been to support our community and provide resources where resources are needed. That will continue to be our mission over the years and we hope that people continue supporting small independent publishing.” @irrelevantpress
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