About
Independent Fine Art Atelier, Publisher & Educator
Dekkle was founded in 2008 by artists David and Louisa Borrington as an independent fine art print atelier dedicated to traditional print craft, analogue translation, and unhurried workshop practice. Grounded in the European atelier tradition, we provide an intimate creative setting down our garden path where artists from emerging scholars to master printmakers can explore and realize ambitious work away from institutional rotas.
Origins & Atelier Philosophy
Grounded in the Royal College of Art printmaking lineage, Dekkle operates on focused, individual collaboration.
- Founding Heritage: Established in 2008 following David’s graduation from the Royal College of Art, London (MA Fine Art Printmaking), learning under Professor Chris Orr RA and lead technician Alan Smith.
- The Atelier System: Built around deep immersion and direct mentorship, the workshop unites technical discipline with creative freedom, developing original imagery alongside the master printer at the bench.
- Bridging Centuries: Our analogue ethos allows artists working across modern media to translate drawings, darkroom film, and digital artwork into the rich, physical language of copper, limestone, and wood.
- Two Perspectives: The printroom brings together David’s technical discipline in plate chemistry and presswork with Louisa’s background as Head of Art and Design, working across narrative ephemera, drawing, and experimental collage.
Facilities & Traditional Presswork
Built around rare cast iron machinery from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the workshop provides an authentic, unhurried printroom setting.
- Historic Press Suite: Houses an 1890 Albion relief platen press, an Aubert French rolling press for intaglio, and an imperial size lithography press.
- Intaglio & Stone Lithography: Dedicated bays for hand etched copper plates, heated rosin box aquatinting, and hand grained Bavarian limestone beds.
- Relief, Letterpress & Polymer: Precision relief matrices, woodcuts, and continuous tone photopolymer plates calibrated for rich tonal range and delicate line.
- Archival Editioning: Hand inked and pulled impressions printed on heavy mould made cotton rag papers using bespoke linseed inks and finished with the printer’s embossed stamp.