Hartford Prints! Presents: Farm to Street Dinner - Tickets On Sale!

Well, what do you know? Tickets are now on sale for the second annual Farm to Street Dinner! This dinner brings awesome people like you to a communal table to celebrate Hartford and open our streets.

Don’t miss the opportunity to eat, drink, and grow our city together!

Farm to Street Dinner
Saturday, June 25th at 6:00pm
Trinity Street, Hartford

Presented by Hartford Steam Boiler, the Farm to Street Dinner, hosted by Hartford Prints!, ON20, and Hartford Food System is a pop-up community event celebrating our city and our streets. Local fare, culture, and industry will meet on one of Hartford’s most interesting blocks for a farm-to-street outdoor dinner.

General Admission Tickets | $40.00 

VIP Admission Tickets | $60.00

General Admission tickets are $40.00 each. VIP tickets are available for $60.00 each and include a private tour of Hartford Food System’s urban farm. All guests are asked to BYOD – “Bring Your Own Dinner.” A local, seasonal first course and dessert, catered by ON20, are included in ticket price. Beer brewed by Back East Brewing Co. and wine from T Edward Wines are included as well. Seating is first come, first served. All tickets are sold online. No tickets will be sold at the event.

All proceeds benefit Hartford Food System, an urban food advocacy organization.

Hartford Prints! is a letterpress studio and stationery store that is all about family. We are three sisters and a press, making pretty paper in our home city of Hartford. Addy, Callie, and Rory joined forces in 2012 to create unique letterpress stationery that is modern and fun. From stunning wedding invitations to offbeat greeting cards, our printing prowess, killer style, and graphic genius work together to make effortlessly beautiful designs.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | contact@hartfordprints.com

Summer Skills with Hartford Prints!

Summer is the perfect time to get out and about and learn something new.  The ladies of Hartford Prints! have put together an amazing roster of workshops, perfect for everyone's interests:

All images courtesy of Hartford Prints!

Hartford Prints! Presents: 2nd Annual Farm to Street Dinner

The 2nd Annual FARM TO STREET DINNER, hosted by Hartford Prints!, ON20, and Hartford Food System, is a pop-up community event celebrating our city and our streets. Last year, 160 people sat down to one long communal table on Pratt Street in downtown Hartford. This year, we're expanding the event to seat over 200 guests for a farm-to-street outdoor dinner in an exciting new location. Let's eat, drink, and grow our city together!

Save the Date for Farm to Street
Saturday, June 25th at 6:00pm
Hartford, Connecticut

Tickets will go on sale Monday, May 9th at 10am and will be priced at $40 each. VIP tickets will be available for $60 each and include an exclusive tour of Hartford Food System's urban farm. 

Guests are asked to cook and bring their own entrees. A local, seasonal first course and dessert, catered by ON20, are included in the ticket price, as well as food tastings and local beverages from some of our state's best. This is a 21 and over event. 

All proceeds benefit Hartford Food System, an urban food advocacy organization.

RSVP HERE

Local Love: Hartford Prints! Presents Addicted to Love

Join Hartford Prints! on Friday, February 5th for a special tribute to love. They'll be hosting some of our favorite Connecticut makers in their Pratt Street shop just in time for Valentine's Day. 

Ratbear Handmade // hats and rad accessories
Rayne Home Decor** // soy candles 
Kate Stephen Jewelry // sculptural jewelry
Whole Harmony 4 U** // artisan tea
Cinder & Salt** // eco-friendly and sustainable apparel
The Brothers Crisp** // handmade footwear
Chalk Art New England // hand-painted signs

Grab a cocktail and graze some snacks while you pick out that perfect valentine for your squeeze or yourself!

**Nutmeg Collective member

Take a Workshop: Hartford Prints!

Looking for a fun winter activity once the holiday hustle and bustle is done?  Check in with our friends at Hartford Prints!  They have an amazing schedule of handmade workshops lined up.  Click on each photo to learn more.

Workshops at Hartford Prints!

Hartford Prints! is a letterpress studio and stationery store that is all about family. We are three sisters and a press, making pretty paper in our home city of Hartford. Addy, Callie, and Rory joined forces in 2012 to create unique letterpress stationery that is modern and fun. From stunning wedding invitations to offbeat greeting cards, our printing prowess, killer style, and graphic genius work together to make effortlessly beautiful designs.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | contact@hartfordprints.com

Hartford Prints! Presents: Farm to Street

Presented by Hartford Steam Boiler and hosted by Hartford Prints!, ON20, and Hartford Food System, the FTS dinner is a pop-up community event celebrating our city and our streets. Local fare, culture, and industry will meet on one of Hartford’s most interesting blocks for a farm-to-street outdoor dinner.

FARM TO STREET is about bringing people together to celebrate Hartford and open our streets. Cocktails mixed by Onyx Moonshine will make you smile from 6:00 - 7:00pm and dinner will start promptly at 7:00pm. 20 picnic tables will line down Pratt Street for the dinner. Each picnic table was hand-crafted by Hartford youth working with Our Piece of the Pie and can seat 8 people. Seating is first come, first served.

General Admission tickets are $35.00 each. VIP tickets are available for $60.00 each and include a private tour of Hartford Food System’s urban farm. All proceeds benefit Hartford Food System, an urban food advocacy organization and Our Piece of the Pie, an organization that trains urban youth to be economically independent adults. Please consider donating to these incredible partners upon checkout.

All tickets are sold online via Hartford Prints!'s website. No tickets will be sold at the event. A local, seasonal first course and dessert, catered by ON20, are included in ticket price. Beer brewed by Back East Brewing Co. and wine from T Edward Wines are included as well. All guests are inspired to BYOD - “Bring Your Own Dinner”

Purchase your tickets here: http://hartfordprints.com/farmtostreet  We hope to see you there!

Hartford Prints! is a letterpress studio and stationery store that is all about family. We are three sisters and a press, making pretty paper in our home city of Hartford. Addy, Callie, and Rory joined forces in 2012 to create unique letterpress stationery that is modern and fun. From stunning wedding invitations to offbeat greeting cards, our printing prowess, killer style, and graphic genius work together to make effortlessly beautiful designs.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | contact@hartfordprints.com

A Spring Day in Hartford

Join Hartford Prints! as they show you a way to spend a spring day in Hartford, Connecticut.

The Downtown Yoga Studio

Rise + Shine at Downtown Yoga

Start your day with a Rise & Shine class at Downtown Yoga on Pratt Street. This gorgeous studio, located on the second floor of historic 57 Pratt Street, offers a variety of all-levels classes six days a week. A Rise + Shine class at 6:00 a.m. will have you saluting the sun and feeling energized for the rest of the day. If you prefer to sleep in a little later, DTY also offers classes later in the day, like lunchtime Go With The Flow at noon, Un-Rush Hour at 5:30, and Weekend Warrior on Saturday mornings.  www.downtownyogastudios.com

One of the entrances to Keney Park

Golf and a walk in Keney Park
At 694 acres, Keney Park is Hartford’s largest. It features a public golf course, tennis courts, hiking trails, and more. Play a round of golf and then watch a cricket match, and if the weather’s warm enough, hop into one of the park’s two outdoor pools for a swim. You can even catch a glimpse of some graceful horses and on the neighboring Ebony Horsewoman farm. http://www.hartford.gov/parks/202-keney-park

Crispy, tender, mouth-watering beef patty from Scott’s Jamaican Bakery

Lunch at Scott’s Jamaican Bakery
After a morning full of exercise, lunch can’t come soon enough! Head over to Scott’s Jamaican Bakery in the North End for some of their famous Jamaican beef patties, curry goat, and coco bread. The prices are great, the people are the sweetest, and the flavors will have you dreaming of palm trees and Caribbean breezes.  http://scottsjamaicanbakery.com/

Corner view of Real Art Ways at 56 Arbor Street-also home to Hartford Prints!

Movie + gallery viewing at Real Art Ways

Relax after the active morning by heading over to Real Art Ways. This community space is both an independent movie theater and a gallery space. In addition to the rotating art exhibits, RAW also hosts a number of community events, notably their Creative Cocktail Hours. You can even have a cocktail from their bar while you watch a classic or contemporary art house feature. http://www.realartways.org/

Infinity Hall, Front Street, Hartford, CT

Dinner + Music at Infinity Hall
Round out your evening with dinner and a concert downtown at Infinity Hall. Front Street bistro offers a delicious selection of entrees and appetizers, along with Happy Hour Specials during the week. Then enjoy live music at the hall, where you can catch local, national, and internationally renowned acts alongside weekly trivia and open mic nights. http://www.infinityhall.com/

Hartford Prints! is a letterpress studio and stationery store that is all about family. We are three sisters and a press, making pretty paper in our home city of Hartford. Addy, Callie, and Rory joined forces in 2012 to create unique letterpress stationery that is modern and fun. From stunning wedding invitations to offbeat greeting cards, our printing prowess, killer style, and graphic genius work together to make effortlessly beautiful designs.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | contact@hartfordprints.com

A Day in The Hartford Prints! Studio

Running a card on our Vandercook 4T press.

Hartford Prints! is first and foremost a letterpress printmaking studio. We create all of our cards, art prints, and other retail paper products, along with all of our custom work, the old-fashioned way. We use a vintage Vandercook 4T printing press. Our press weighs an actual ton and started life as a newspaper proofing press handling small runs of the daily paper for the writers and editors to proof by hand.

Hand-setting a row of type.

Our designs are always a collaboration over many iced coffees and multiple Pinterest boards. We use the humor that our mom gave us and our dad’s attention to detail to bring our stationery to life, blending illustration, hand-lettering, and modern graphics. We usually start by getting together and talking about what our store customers are looking for- a print of a particular Hartford neighborhood, a certain type of card, more of a specific color- and any ideas for new products that we’ve had. We’ll brainstorm and hash the ideas out together and then get down to the nitty-gritty of designing. We love seeing our work in action and hope it inspires people to get a pen, lick a stamp, and know their local mailbox!

A hand-carved plate secure in the press.

We might hand draw or digitally design a piece, then we’ll make any further tweaks. Working as team is how we come up with some of our most successful products. A lot of times a joke or weird pun one of us makes will end up as a card, or a favorite neighborhood landmark will become an art print.

Mixing ink colors.

After nailing down the final design, the next step is to create the plate. Plates are either made digitally, by rendering our drawings and turning them into polymer plates, or by hand-carving a wooden plate. We also use hand-set type and have an enormous collection of different styles of type. We’ll prep the paper that we’re using by counting it out and cutting it down to rough size, and hand-mix the letterpress inks. Then we’ll secure the plate in place, ink up the press, and run each sheet of paper through, piece by piece, carefully setting each aside to dry. If the design contains elements of multiple colors, then this process is repeated for each color with a separate plate. We also have to print a backplate on our cards with our logo, so each card individually runs through the press at least twice.

Inking the press.

After the ink is dry, we cut everything to the final size. Then everything is painstaking folded, paired with an envelope (which has often been custom-selected for each unique design) enclosed in a plastic envelope for safekeeping, and labelled. Then it’s off to the store, where the item is given it’s very own item number, entered in our inventory system, and added to the floor displays, with extras stored carefully in our back room. After that, we photograph each piece and craft a listing for it on Etsy, so that people near and far can find us.

Finished prints hanging on the gallery wall of our studio.

Hartford Prints! is a letterpress studio and stationery store that is all about family. We are three sisters and a press, making pretty paper in our home city of Hartford. Addy, Callie, and Rory joined forces in 2012 to create unique letterpress stationery that is modern and fun. From stunning wedding invitations to offbeat greeting cards, our printing prowess, killer style, and graphic genius work together to make effortlessly beautiful designs.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | contact@hartfordprints.com