The Detroit Printing Co-Op

A timely exploration of political organizing, publishing, design and distribution in 1970s Detroit

In 1969, shortly after moving to Detroit with wife and partner Lorraine Nybakken, Fredy Perlman and a group of kindred spirits purchased a printing press from a Chicago dealer, transported it, in parts, back to Detroit in their cars and the Detroit Printing Co-op was born.

Operating between 1969 and 1980 out of southwest Detroit, the Co-op was the site for the printing of the first English translation of Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle and journals like Radical America, produced by the Students for a Democratic Society; books such as The Political Thought of James Forman printed by the League of Revolutionary Black Workers; and the occasional broadsheet, such as Judy Campbell's stirring indictment, "Open letter from 'white bitch' to the black youths who beat up on me and my friend."

Fredy Perlman was not a printer or a designer by training, but was deeply engaged in the ideas, issues, processes and materiality of printing. While at the Detroit Printing Co-op, he radically rethought the possibilities of print by experimenting with overprinting, collage techniques, different kinds of papers and so on. Behind the calls to action and class consciousness written in his publications, there was an innate sense of the politics of design, experimentation and pride of craft.

Building on research conducted by Danielle Aubert, a Detroit-based designer, educator and coauthor of Thanks for the view, Mr. Mies, The Politics of the Joy of Printing explores the history, output and legacy of the Perlmans and the Co-op in a highly illustrated testament to the power of printing, publishing, design and distribution.

Between 1970 and 1980, the Detroit Printing Co-op, spearheaded by Fredy and Lorraine Perlman, was responsible for the first English translation of Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle, printed journals like SDS' Radical America, ultra-left books by their in-house press, Black & Red, and countless posters, pamphlets, and books printed by high school students, black radicals, labor organizers, and anarchists who made use of the freely available facilities at the Co-op. Fredy Perlman was not a printer or a designer by training, but was deeply engaged in the ideas, issues, processes, and materiality of printing. While at the Detroit Printing Co-op, he rethought the possibilities of prit by experimenting with overprinting, collage techniques, and different kinds of papers. Behind the calls to action and class consciousness written in his publications, there was an innate sense of the politics of design, experimentation, and pride of craft. "The Detroit Printing Co-op" is a timely exploration of the history, output, and legacy of this unique enterprise, and serves as a testament to the power of printing, publishing, design, and distribution.
As documented in design historian Danielle Aubert's richly illustrated book 'The Detroit Printing Co-op: The Politics of the Joy of Printing, ' the co-op was more than a mere publishing facility: It embodied [Freddy] Perlman's belief in the liberatory power of combined daily activities, such as book design, typesetting, and printing [...] Aubert's research into the co-op's legacy ... reveals the project's surprising scope.--Daniel Marcus "Artforum"
Danielle Aubert's history of the Detroit Printing Co-op offers a refreshing example of graphic design as it was practiced in the most alternative of ways--not only outside of the mainstream design profession, but also against the prevailing capitalist economy premised on private ownership. For enthusiasts of graphic design, Fredy Perlman's unexpected visually inventive designs for politically salient works offer a much needed example of how self-publishing and DIY printing, so in vogue today, can be used to not just make something, but to also say something.--Andrew Blauvelt "Director, Cranbrook Museum of Art"
In the 1970s, The Detroit Printing Co-op showed the revolutionary potential of design.The prolific producer of leftist literature worked to define a different relationship to wage labor, materials, and politics.--Danielle Aubert "AIGA"
The Detroit Printing Co-Op: The Politics of the Joys of Printing...expand[s] design history, and the politics of graphic design...--Jarrett Fuller "Scratching the Surface"