New Press Feature: Métier Press
- Zach Harney
- Apr 15
- 10 min read
Christopher Bright - Founder
We are really excited to share this conversation with Christopher Bright, the Portland-based founder of Métier Press, a fine press dedicated to what he describes as fine methods, materials, and refined design. Métier's inaugural release is The Sun Also Rises, a choice Bright has described as deeply personal — the book that first bridged his passion for rare and antiquarian collecting with the world of fine press books. Christopher hopes to leave his mark on the fine press landscape, bringing his sensibilities from the design world and creating pieces where every detail matters. We hope our readers enjoy hearing the story of how a career spent shaping editorial and creative vision ultimately led Bright to build something entirely his own — one beautifully made book at a time. Their first release The Sun Also Rises will be launching April 23rd, so mark your calendars!
Q: What were some of the first experiences in your life that drew you to this craft and most shaped your sensibilities as a future publisher—technical training, influential peers, private study, collecting?
Métier is very much the confluence of my personal and professional life. I studied art and literature in undergrad, and my first job out of school was at an art gallery in San Francisco. It was an exciting and formative experience—I decided I wanted to participate in the creative process rather than simply facilitate it, so I made the transition to the editorial world, ultimately working my way to a role as executive editor of a design and architecture magazine. That evolved into design work for agencies and brands. I’ve been a creative director for the past decade or so.
I first started collecting many years ago in the rare and antiquarian world. I think this is a common inroad for the mainstream when seeking a special book; first editions are the thing that comes to mind. This is where I really began to see the book as a truly special object. What a thrill to somehow elevate the reading experience. I still have a deep appreciation for rare books, but discovering the world of fine press—the appreciation of craft, the embrace of materials, the marriage of art and literature—there was no going back. It’s everything I know and value all in one.
Q: What gaps did you perceive in the current fine press landscape that made you feel it was time to launch your own imprint? How do you think your particular approach may draw in new collectors or excite seasoned ones?
My goal with Métier is to be additive to the fine press community. I’ve seen the landscape evolve so much over the past several years. We don’t want to be a facsimile of the rubrics that have already been established. There are presses doing those things, and doing them well. What would be the point in being another? Our aim is to bring a unique perspective. One that adds and enriches the choices for collectors. We lie squarely at the intersection of art, design, and craft.
Let me also say this: I love it all. I love a good burger at a dive bar, and I love the technical brilliance of fine dining. Sometimes I listen to Spotify, sometimes I listen to vinyl. There’s room for it all.
Q: Anyone who decides to make a foray into the fine press world must have a strong sense of vocation and calling to take the leap. How does this relate to your press name, and what does that word signify to you in the context of craftsmanship and vocation?
Métier, in its most basic definition, means a field of work in which someone has a specialty, particularly in a skilled or artisanal field, and this is very much what we are trying to do; make special books.
There’s another connotation in the French language, in which a métier isn’t just a vocation or well-honed skill, it’s a calling. This pursuit is above all else about our passion for these elevated books.
Q: What, in your view, distinguishes a true fine press book from simply a well-made book? Is there a firm line in the sand, or is it more nuanced than that?
Letterpress, binding, and paper selection are certainly distinctions that shape the conversation. If we’re talking about the antithesis of mass, for me it’s also about consideration and intent. Was every facet and detail lovingly labored over? How fully is the concept conceived and rendered? These are the tenets at the core of Morris’ reaction to the perils of industrialization.
At large, it’s about materials and methods. And crucially, methods cannot be separated from the skill and experience of the people behind the making of the books. A Bradel binding in itself isn’t inherently valid any more than a painting is. A brush in the hands of a hobbyist doesn’t yield the same result as a Cézanne or Frankenthaler.
There’s something that is made special and valuable by the lifetimes of craftsmanship that go into these books. There’s nothing really scalable about letterpress or fine bookbinding, and to me, that’s the whole point. In this digital age, craft matters more than ever.
Q: Your overall aesthetic is minimalist in style, but maximal focus on the individual quality of each element. How do you think about restraint in book design? What do you consider the line between elegance and excess?
Our purpose is simple: to make something beautiful. In the case of The Sun Also Rises, we took care to express the ethos of the title and its author in every facet of the creative concept. This is the novel that defined Hemingway’s sparse yet sensual style, and we aimed for the cover art to convey the same kind of restrained yet poignant sensibility.
We are firm believers that “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details,” as Morris said. Every decision matters, and I delight in pursuing the utmost in every way.
These details are the very differences—the quality of the materials and methods, the person behind the craft—that differentiate a fine press book from a commercially made book. I’m not sure you can go too far if the intent is sound. Like the carpenter who finishes the underside of a cabinet no one will see, it’s about the embrace of an ethic; if it’s worth doing, it's worth doing well.
Q: Do you see fine press primarily as a preservation of literary heritage, an artistic medium in its own right, or something else entirely? How do you intend to define your place within it—collaborator, disruptor, preservationist?
Our aim is to be both timeless and timely. To bring a breadth of art and design to the landscape while remaining true to the legacy of fine press.
There’s a fascinating part of the art and design world that’s completely untapped, just waiting for this medium. I see room for work by the likes of Lucian Freud, Flora Yukhnovich, or Anna Wyant. Done the right way, it can all live together in harmony and become something amazing.
Our type selection for this book is a good example of this balance. Dinamo is a European foundry doing some of the coolest work out there right now, and they’ve got a bit of a cult following in the design community. We chose Otto as the font for a few reasons. One, it was designed specifically for reading. Important, as readability has been a foundational principle in fine press from its inception.
There’s also this really interesting blend of old and new happening with this font. Its design is rooted in the work of Miklos Kis, who was one of the designers at the forefront of the so-called Dutch taste, a serif genre from the 17th century. Otto plays with that history in an almost cheeky way—a much larger X-height, and is much more elegant and balanced while having this verve that disposes of the fussiness you might normally see in the Baroque period.
Q: Your first book that will be released is a two-state production of The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. Can you tell us about how you chose this as your first work, and if you plan on continuing forward with public domain releases or a mix of classic and contemporary novels? When choosing a text, what comes first for you—the literary merit, the design possibilities, or the conceptual unity of the finished book?
We’ll be releasing quite an eclectic mix of titles. A combination of literary merit and my personal affinities will drive the selection. This will make for an interesting mélange—I have a feeling our release schedule will keep collectors on their toes. Moving forward, the vast majority of our books will all be licensed works. We’ve already got the next couple of titles lined up, can’t wait to share them.
I chose The Sun Also Rises for a few reasons. Hemingway was a true iconoclast, which felt fitting for an inaugural release. It’s a seminal work, one that hasn’t been overly done in the fine press canon, and a narrative that seems very poignant in this moment.
It’s a fascinating read in the light of our current reality—a lost generation struggling to navigate relationships and the modern world amidst rapid technological advances, mass media, and a morally uncertain future.
Q: This first release does not include illustrations, which would be atypical for a fine press release when observing the overall landscape. Will this be a standard of the press, or is illustration and original artwork part of your vision for the press moving forward?
This was a deliberate decision for this release in the effort to be bring something new for collectors. Each cover of these books has been individually hand painted. The idea being that we are bringing the art to the exterior, rather than the interior. This puts more focus on the book itself as the artistic object. The hand-painted technique makes each book a one-of-kind, which I think is pretty special, and something typically reserved for price points well above ours.
For me, many stories benefit from illustration; some do not. I’m wary of any kind of reductive math—a book with ten illustrations isn’t necessarily superior to a book with five, or three, or none, for that matter. Kelmscott was a response to commodification after all.
We will most definitely be featuring illustration in the future. Art and illustration are deep passions of mine, and the possibilities here are endless. There are myriad ways to creatively express the ethos of these literary works, and it’s one of the things we are most excited about.
Q: I love that perspective on Kelmscott’s reaction to commodification, and even the small/fine press community is not immune to it. Who are some of the current contributors to the fine press community that you have a high level of respect for?
St James Park Press and No Reply come to mind as current presses who are doing admirable work; each is creatively committed and adroitly skilled in their craft, bringing their own unique perspective to the landscape. They may have different sensibilities but share a common thread in their clarity of purpose and evident love of the book. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Tony over at CTP, he’s a genuine guy, and I enjoy our confabs.
The Limited Editions Club during the Macy era has also been a source of inspiration for me. The breadth and occasional risk in editorial choices, and collaborations with artists like Picasso and Matisse. Ulysses with line drawings by Matisse, I mean, come on! Our take on limitations is decidedly different, and our approach less commercial, but the title selection and artwork show a clear, if bold commitment, both things we absolutely strive for.
Q: What does success look like for Métier Press in its first five years? Is it measured in reputation, collectability, innovation, financial sustainability?
Success for us is in making something worthy. To carve out a niche that is truly novel, and has a distinct POV. I would be delighted if what we’re doing finds a small cohort with a shared sense appreciation for craft, art, and design; for whom it brings a modicum of joy.
I think about how Murakami talks about Peter Cat, the bar he ran before focusing full-time on writing. From What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, “A lot of customers came to the bar. If one in ten enjoyed the place and said he'd come again, that was enough…In order to make sure he did, I had to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what.”
You can see that kind of thinking present in our paper selection, for instance. I fell in love with the Fabriano Tiepolo. Just the most lovely paper I’ve come across. Fabriano is the oldest mill in Europe, an epicenter of artisanal paper making with all kinds of cool history and ties to the craft of bookbinding. Michelangelo and Beethoven were known to have used Fabriano. How cool is that? Now, Tiepolo isn’t available in the U.S., so we took on the foolish adventure of importing it to the States, and then shipping back to Europe to be bound in the U.K. Financially, it made zero sense, but philosophically we will always put the craft and collector first.
Q: We use Fabriano Tiepolo for all of our broadsides, so I’m in complete agreement there on paper selection! Is there a dream project already forming in your mind that represents the fullest expression of what Métier Press could become, or do you see just a steady output of quality work being enough of a legacy?
Haha, well, how long do you have?! I want our books to have a clear and consistent ethos that allows for the concepts and narratives of every title to come through in unique ways. Which is to say, seeing Métier Press books on your shelf will clearly be part of the same family while expressing the individual themes of each novel.
One of the biggest joys of this process for me is the opportunity it affords to collaborate with people at the top of their field; I can think of little else I enjoy more. I’ve got a list as long as your arm of artists from the fine art world and insanely talented designers that I’d love to work with. I see some amazing possibilities to work with artisans in different mediums across a wide breadth of disciplines.
This interview was done in a series of communications back and forth with Christopher Bright. If you want to pre-order a copy of The Sun Also Rises or see what else is upcoming, you can check out Metier Press on their website https://www.metierpress.com/. For updates on current projects follow them on Instagram to stay up to date on what's coming up in the future from Metier!
Interview by: Zach Harney, co-founder of the Collectible Book Vault