Our first collaboration with Audrey, Okimiyage, was released five years ago in June. It sold out immediately and has gone on to become our most-requested print of all time.
The project was such a huge success (artistically, financially, and critically) that we immediately began work on a second series of frames — in dark walnut this time, rather than light maple — that would one day house a companion print. That day has finally come.
We sent Audrey the first walnut prototype back in ’08; I like to imagine that, inspired by its deep, rich color, she spent the intervening years figuring out how to work her effervescent lines into appropriately black & bold compositions. Whatever the inspiration, that’s certainly the direction that her work has taken as of late. The drawing, when it arrived, was a perfect fit.
She called it Eien, which looks like this: ???? (and this: ??) in Japanese and translates to “forever,” “eternity,” or “permanence.”
I should probably mention, too, that we built these frames from raw lumber, completely by hand. They’ve been a fixture in the studio for so long that I almost take them for granted; the hours that went into their hand-rubbed finishes, delicate joinery, paper-thin tolerances, and innumerable coats of finely sanded-down finish are now but a distant memory.
Before we could frame anything we needed to send the freshly printed edition off to Audrey for signing, numbering, and some exquisite hand-tinting in pink:
Due to high demand, we’re taking the unusual step of pre-announcing this sale. Eien will be available for purchase at noon PDT on Tuesday, July 23rd, on pressureprinting.com.
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