Five Days, Five Techniques: Inside the SDW Print Challenge
Five Days, Five Prints
The 5-Day Print Challenge was exactly what it sounds like: five printmakers, five days, five finished pieces. Held during Sheffield Design Week 2015, the event turned the normally private process of printmaking into a public spectacle, with makers working in full view of visitors throughout the week.
Each participant was given the same starting point — a brief inspired by Sheffield’s landscape — and asked to produce a finished print each day using a different technique. Linocut on Monday. Screen printing on Tuesday. Etching on Wednesday. Letterpress on Thursday. Risograph on Friday. The variety was both a challenge and a revelation.
Process Under Glass
I visited on the Wednesday and watched an etching being developed from scratch — the drawing on the plate, the acid bath, the inking, the careful wiping and the final pull through the press. The printmaker worked with a concentration that seemed unaffected by the audience, though she later admitted that the public setting had pushed her to take fewer risks than she might have in private.
This admission was interesting. The challenge format created a tension between the desire to experiment and the pressure of public accountability. Some participants embraced this tension, producing work that felt raw and energetic. Others retreated to safer territory, delivering technically accomplished but less adventurous pieces.
Print Culture in Sheffield
The 5-Day Print Challenge reflected Sheffield’s strong print culture — a city where letterpress studios, risograph workshops and independent print fairs have flourished in recent years. The print scene connects to the city’s broader making tradition, and the challenge made that connection visible.
The event complemented the Craftworks exhibition and Maker Day workshops, adding a time-based dimension to the festival’s exploration of craft. For print enthusiasts, it remains one of the most memorable events in Sheffield Design Week’s history — honest, pressured and utterly absorbing to watch.
