IF there was such a place as the opposite of the modern office, this little store called Flywheel would be it. In a world where humans interact via computer, here you’re being quietly encouraged to talk face to face with a knowledgeable staff. When work desks are stripped to the bare minimum – definitely nothing personal or precious – these shelves suggest a hundred things you want to have close. And when we’re constantly told to go paperless, to do everything digitally, this is a realm that celebrates all things paper. Flywheel is an unapologetically an old fashioned retailer, brick walled and wood floored, This is an old-fashioned letterpress machine, where the lead type or block is pressed on to paper or card.

The contraption’s origins are a short distance away, at the Drill Hall antique store, which is the business of Rachel’s sisters, Tammy and Donna. Drill Hall is just around the corner from Flywheel and its site on High Street New Norfolk. Ten years ago, a hunt for antiques unearthed this printer, and inadvertently introduced Rachel James to a time-consuming print method that requires great care for each run. Inks are liquid, hand-mixed and applied to the press one at a time. “You develop an affection for letterpress,” she says. “You learn to love the craft, the hand-made nature of its racks and drawers and counters made in old timber and glass. It’s warmly lit, inviting and familiar. So it’s the ideal place for a near-endless collection of cards and stationery, the plain and coated, acid free and art paper, papers for lining and for notes, paper for writing, for artists and for wrapping.

And then there’s everything that goes with paper, a multiplicity of writing implements, calligraphy and fountain pens and nibs along with bottles of blue and black ink. Elsewhere are ballpoints with brass and silver casings, myriad drawing inks and leather-bound pen cases. Over there wait elegant, handmade greeting cards with animal and botanical motifs, Christmas cards, birthday and other personal notes ranging from the romantic to a simple thank you.

You’ll find old-fashioned wax and wax seals, ribbons and twine, scissors and desk tools, stamps and ink pads, notebooks and notepads. And then there are boxes and binders of labels, stickers and tapes. This rack houses paper craft materials, posters and gift wrap, that one 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles, a selection in plywood too. Check out those piece-together 3-D puzzles of T Rex, a steam loco and the Sydney Opera House, or playing cards with Harry Potter or even Star Wars motifs. Like your diaries and calendars for 2023 in physical form? Over here. Something unique?

Ask Shelby Jarvis, Flywheel’s manager or her assistant, Ayah Anwer. But it is paper on which this business is built, and it’s at the back where the heart of the enterprise – wedding stationery – has its source. It is rendered by a young woman called Rachel James, now sitting at an industrial desk, ink stained and crowded with the myriad tools of a designer. Using a high-end laptop computer to design wedding stationery that will be printed in a time-honoured manner, Rachel is the overseer of a curious business marriage of the new age and the old school. “Everything for the wedding is created from scratch,” she says. “I’m looking to suit a couple’s individual style, something elegant and unique that will be finished on a luxurious card stock, something they’ll want to keep forever.”

The ‘forever’ aspect is reflected in the way her work will be printed, on a Chandler and Price printing press that occupies its own corner of Flywheel. American-made, it’s now more than a century old. it. Designers and printers like the tactility of letterpress printing. “But yes, it’s a museum piece. Getting someone who can repair this or that is not easy.” Rachel James gets back to work, readying stock for Christmas, finishing up a freshly printed series of wedding invitations. She turns back to the massive old machine near her desk. It hasn’t escaped her attention that letterpress printers traditionally have gone to great lengths to ensure their prints showed no impression. The paper only ‘kisses’ the surface of the plate. That seems right for a wedding invitation. IF there was such a place as the opposite of the modern office, this little store called Flywheel would be it. In a world where humans interact via computer, here you’re being quietly encouraged to talk face to face with a knowledgeable staff.

When work desks are stripped to the bare minimum – definitely nothing personal or precious – these shelves suggest a hundred things you want to have close. And when we’re constantly told to go paperless, to do everything digitally, this is a realm that celebrates all things paper. Flywheel is an unapologetically an old fashioned retailer, brick walled and wood floored, This is an old-fashioned letterpress machine, where the lead type or block is pressed on to paper or card.

The contraption’s origins are a short distance away, at the Drill Hall antique store, which is the business of Rachel’s sisters, Tammy and Donna. Drill Hall is just around the corner from Flywheel and its site on High Street New Norfolk. Ten years ago, a hunt for antiques unearthed this printer, and inadvertently introduced Rachel James to a time-consuming print method that requires great care for each run. Inks are liquid, hand-mixed and applied to the press one at a time. “You develop an affection for letterpress,” she says. “You learn to love the craft, the hand-made nature of its racks and drawers and counters made in old timber and glass. It’s warmly lit, inviting and familiar.

So it’s the ideal place for a near-endless collection of cards and stationery, the plain and coated, acid free and art paper, papers for lining and for notes, paper for writing, for artists and for wrapping. And then there’s everything that goes with paper, a multiplicity of writing implements, calligraphy and fountain pens and nibs along with bottles of blue and black ink. Elsewhere are ballpoints with brass and silver casings, myriad drawing inks and leather-bound pen cases. Over there wait elegant, handmade greeting cards with animal and botanical motifs, Christmas cards, birthday and other personal notes ranging from the romantic to a simple thank you.

Rachel James gets back to work, readying stock for Christmas, finishing up a freshly printed series of wedding invitations. She turns back to the massive old machine near her desk. It hasn’t escaped her attention that letterpress printers traditionally have gone to great lengths to ensure their prints showed no impression. The paper only ‘kisses’ the surface of the plate. That seems right for a wedding invitation.