La Feroz Press

The name of La Feroz Press has its origin in North Fair Oaks –an unincorporated neighborhood trapped between the wealthiest cities in the USA, and a Latinx barrio located in San Mateo County, California– the place where the press is physically located. The name of La Feroz Press arose from the Latinized mispronunciation by some residents to our barrio of Fair Oaks as “Fer-Oz,” which coincides phonetically with the Spanish word Feroz, meaning ferocious.

At the same time, the name La Feroz alludes to the multiple meanings and implied actions that this press aspires to embody through the production of relief and letterpress printed works: wild, fierce, and with an occasional bicultural bite. It may also be abbreviated L.F.P. as needed.

PreText and Reason to Be

La Feroz Press was born on February 14, 2015, initially with the name Taller de Tinta y Texto (Ink & Text Press or TTT), as a humble tribute to the relationship between writing and letterpress printing. It was Ever Rodriguez’s wish to make this his channel for passion and artistic expression to bridge communication between the Spanish and Anglophone communities through the art produced here.

La Feroz Press intends to revive and continue the tradition of bilingual typography in California to produce pamphlets, posters, flyers, relevant news, celebratory cards, and poetry and prose from artists who have a desire to share their creativity with both the English and the Spanish-speaking communities around the world.

The printing press began with a Morgan Line-O-Scribe proof press 14x22 acquired from southern California, which I named “La Arrolladora” (The Finisher); and with a Chandler & Price platen press 10”x1”5 acquired in Gilroy, which I named “Frankenpress” because when I bought it this press looked like a monster. Along with these two printing presses, I also got incomplete, used and dirty metal and wood typefaces, so called Frankentype, which originally accompanied these presses.

La Feroz Press now includes a Vandercook SP15 manual cylinder press, and a beautiful Griffin Co. etching press made in Oakland, California, by courtesy of the Turtlesilk Press and the Two Left Hands Press, owned by printers Linda Stinchfield and Kim Hamilton, respectively. With these printing presses, La Feroz Press can do a lot of pressing damage. Below you will find a list of works produced at La Feroz Press in chronological order from latest to earliest. If you are interested in purchasing any of these works, please email: laferozpress@gmail.com