Art Touch Tamane Iwata Letterpress Postcard / TOUCH & FLOW

• Size: H148 × W100mm (standard postcard)
• Weight (body): 5g
• Weight (with packaging): 6g
• Print technique: Letterpress printing
• Ink: Copper ink
• Original artwork technique: Intaglio etching on brass and nickel silver
• Artist: Tamane Iwata (intaglio printmaker and metalsmith)

Tamane Iwata studied at Tama Art University and now works under the studio name "Mercury Cat" (水銀ノ猫), creating intaglio prints and jewelry using the same hand-etched metal plates. Her process begins with drawing directly onto brass or nickel silver, then biting the lines into the metal with ferric chloride to produce etchings of exceptional fineness.

TOUCH & FLOW chose letterpress printing specifically to honor that fineness. At their factory in Nagareyama, a printing press built more than 50 years ago applies copper ink to each card individually, pressing it into the paper surface and leaving the slight tactile relief that is the defining quality of letterpress work. The result is a postcard that carries traces of two hand processes: the artist's needle on metal, and the press's impression into paper.

The six designs in the series each feature animals drawn with Iwata's characteristic delicate line: cats rendered in gray, yellow, warbler green, and light blue, alongside a rabbit and a bird. The copper ink gives all six a warm, slightly antique quality that suits the subject matter.