Meet Ken and Shino Charlson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken and Shino Charlson. Them and their team share their story with us below:

We started Fugu Fugu Press in 2008 while Shino was still freelancing as an illustrator and Ken was playing and teaching music. While freelancing, Shino was working for another letterpress greeting card company where she learned how to design, print, and became familiar with how to run a wholesale business. In 2007, we found a for-sale ad on Craigslist for vintage printing presses (Heidelberg Windmill and Chandler & Price) at an old print shop in Downtown LA. After deciding to buy the presses, we found a space in a radiator repair shop in Pasadena. We moved the presses in and set up own letterpress greeting card company! In the early days, we sold mostly on Etsy and at craft fairs, but as time went on we started to show at industry trade shows. At one of the trade shows (National Stationery Show in New York), we were able to meet and start working with reps who cover various areas of the country as well as international distributors. While most of our business continues to be with independent retailers, Fugu Fugu Press has worked with major national retailers such as Barnes and Noble, PaperSource and Papryus. Shino still designs all of our cards, and Ken does majority of the printing while still playing the piano at Hotel Bel Air and various places around town.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The radiator shop we were renting had a leaky roof. One day during a particularly heavy rain, it started leaking onto our presses! We decided to move out of the place after that.

Our biggest obstacle came last year, during the pandemic. One of our reps called us to let us know that we landed the biggest account we ever had – Barnes & Noble. We had to figure out a way to produce on a timeline and in a scale we had never done before. We had to call in lots of help from friends and outsource some of the printing which we had never done before. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We print using old-fashioned presses from 1950’s. The process is called letterpress, and it’s a very old-school way of printing – one color at a time. We mix our own custom colors, and each color in the design has to be carefully registered by hand. We try to do big solids of colors and large designs in tight register, which can be difficult to do in letterpress.

We’re proud of the quality and consistency we are able to produce while still maintaining the hands-on feel!

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
We don’t have anything particularly new to say, but same things we’ve heard when we were starting out are totally true:

Do your research, and try to fill a niche that has not been filled. Resist the temptation to copy what other people are doing!

You have to push and you have to promote. Not just on social media and online but in person too, wherever and whenever possible. You have to be constantly putting out solid new products as well. Retailers always want to see what’s new. That’s the draw. Seeing new designs is what reps rely on to get appointments with buyers.

Your first orders may be small. Don’t let that discourage you. It’s the relationship with the store and buyer that matters. Over time the buyers will be inclined to lean more heavily into your line if the line is working and you’re delivering from your end.

Try to collect feedback from stores and buyers. You’ll do your own thing of course, but it’s nice to know what others are seeing out there and how your product is being seen on the shelf.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: http://www.fugufugupress.com
• Instagram: @fugufugupress

Image Credits:
Carissa Moss (for the photos of Ken and Shino in front of the press). Shino Charlson (all other photos)