Starshaped Press

Chicago, United States

5

9 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 773-728-6359
Website:
www.starshaped.com
Address:
4636 N Ravenswood St Ste 103, Chicago, IL, 60640
Lincoln Square, Ravenswood
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
790 ftRavenswood
0.3 miMontrose Brown Line Station WB
0.3 miMontrose Brown Line Station EB
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Street
Wheelchair Accessible
No
Dogs Allowed
Yes

Today

Today –
Local time (Chicago) 03:30 Wednesday, 16 July 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Starshaped Press is a design and letterpress studio that works exclusively with handset antique metal and wood type. We print posters, music packaging, business cards and other social stationery. If you’d like to chat with us about a project, contact us for an appointment, or request some samples which we are happy to send!

PLEASE NOTE: If you are looking for new-​timey letterpress with digitally created designs pressed heavily into thick cotton paper, we are not the studio for you. If you are looking for something more offbeat, vintage or retro, we just might be a great fit.

PLEASE see our site for more information: www​.star​shaped​.com

History

Established in 1999.

Starshaped Press has been designing and printing by antiquated means in Chicago’s lovely Ravenswood neighborhood since 1999. Our dedication to the craftsmanship of traditional, old-​fashioned (i.e., NOT modern, ‘couture’) letterpress printing has garnered praise in print, the blogosphere and in poster & print shows.

Meet the Business Owner

Jennifer F.

Business Owner

Jennifer Farrell cut her teeth working at the venerable Fireproof Press right here in the Windy City and struck out on her own after that, armed with the ideals of a Luddite and ridiculous notions of keeping letterpress as old school as possible. She hates when presses are called ‘letterpresses’ or ‘printers’, when stationery is spelled incorrectly, and dreams of being interviewed by Steve Edwards someday.

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9 reviews of Starshaped Press

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Jen designed and printed a poster for my wife and I of our vows for our seventh anniversary.
Jen was AMAZING. Working with her on the design was fun and easy. She gave us two possible designs that we revised and narrowed down to the final print.
We couldn’t have been happier with the final piece. It is something we will love and enjoy for a very long time, and I can’t thank Jen enough for the amazing work.
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
I noticed folks are here reviewing Starshaped as a wedding vendor, but I want to put in a plug for Jen as maker of great cards and prints — my apartment and office (and my mother’s house) have quickly filled up with letterpress prints and posters from Starshaped, and I love Jen’s eye for cool type and interesting and topical inspiration – from urban gardens to biking, even women’s health.
Jen’s Etsy site (
) and newsletter often feature discount codes too, great for the struggling grad student who wants to buy local as much as possible. Now I’m moving out of Chicago, but you can bet I’ll still be buying Starshaped! [In fact, as I was packing, I was counting how many of her prints I had collected over the years… lots!] If you’re in town, though, there are often events at the Ravenswood studio, which are lots of fun (I once struggled through printing my own 11×14 poster!)
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
If you are looking for something truly unique and interesting, you must use Starshaped Press for your wedding stationary. We spent hours upon hours scrolling through the boring, standard wedding invites on the mega superstores online and thought we would never find something we loved. When we stumbled upon Jen’s work on her site, we were so amazed, we knew we to have Jen design our wedding invitations and envelopes. All of our guests were raving about our one-​of-​a-​kind stationary; no one had EVER seen anything like it arrive in their mailbox. Jen was a GEM to work with– was super helpful, offered amazing advice and expertise, and so available/​responsive. We were also really excited to support a local small business in Ravenswood area of Chicago– even though we were lucky enough to be able to stop into her incredible studio, we were amazed to see that she even does custom work for people around the country. I would 100% absolutely encourage everyone to look into Starshaped Press, even just for thank you cards on her Etsy page :-)
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
We hired Jen at Starshaped Press to do save the dates and wedding invitations for our April 2013 wedding. Jen was absolutely amazing to work with. She was always extremely nice and professional, and she captured our ideas perfectly. Everyone raved about our paper products, and we even used the skyline image Jen created for us as our wedding logo (with Jen’s permission). The price for the save the dates and invitations was also extremely reasonable. We will definitely work with Jen again, and we cannot recommend her highly enough.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Starshaped Press you are my hero. I unfortunately was not able to attend your open house. When I lamented this to you, you sent me the most beautiful, well-​put-​together most awesome mailer containing samples of your work.
I am a letterpress printer (who uses illustrator/​photopolymer plates) and was weepy with aesthetic bliss to see what your printing up over there on Ravenswood. You rock.
I’m in the business of showing people what the heck letterpress is whenever they come to my house. Now I get to show them what OG letterpress is too. ;-)
Can folks visit your shop? Thanks again!
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Jen printed our wedding invitations in the spring of 2010. I used a design template from her extensive and beautiful portfolio, with a few minor modifications.
Jen was amazing to work with — very responsive, helpful and spot-​on with her deadlines. I also really enjoyed the chance to meet in her studio, talk through paper and ink options, see the presses and learn about her process. She is keeping the art of letterpress alive in its original form — there’s no plastic-​type and modern technology fakery going on at Sharshaped!
I received lots of compliments on my original, highly personal invites. They were one of my favorite «projects» of our wedding. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work with Jen again soon.
Place rating: 5
Northbrook, IL
I was so happy with the final product Jen produced. We received many compliments on the invitations and that would not have been possible without the design and execution of Jen.
Jen was extremely good with being responsive both on the phone and email, and was accommodating when I had to make some changes to the design.
For brides looking for letterpress (custom designed letterpress) for a non-​letterpress price, please consider Starshaped Press!
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Jen Farrell is amazing! We went to her with several wedding printing needs, and she executed them all flawlessly, creatively, pleasantly, and in a timely fashion. From my very vague idea, Jen designed a tri-​fold invitation that was simple, unique but very lovely. In the end, it was exactly what I wanted.
Jen also designed and printed the escort cards for our wedding, based on a 1930’s World Series ticket, and they came out better than I could have dreamed.
I also enjoyed the process. We initially met with Jen in her shop, which allowe us to see her process and her materials. (She uses several old-​fashioned presses to make her creations, and she handsets all of the type.) She was great about communicating with us in a timely fashion regarding design, printing, etc. She was very receptive to comments during the design process, and all-​around a pleasure to work with.
A note about price: is letterpress expensive? Yes, but Jen’s prices were the most reasonable that I could find in the Chicago area, and I did do a good bit of research on the matter. I felt that it was worth every penny.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Jen at Starshaped did our invites and CD covers for our wedding. We had an idea of what we wanted and she helped us make it happen. We wanted a specific feel and the old fashioned letterpress was exactly what was called for.
Even the people that we didn’t like, but still invited mentioned how absloutely awesome our materials were. And we don’t even like them.
For any party requiring an invite, poster, or thank you, go for Starshaped. You won’t regret it.