Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica and Ashley Cunningham.
Hi Jessica and Ashley, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Over Fork Over is the collaboration of two sisters, Jessica and Ashley Cunningham. And no, we’re not a food truck; we’re a design and print studio that focuses on letterpress printing. For those who aren’t familiar, letterpress printing is a style of impression printing that dates back to the 1400s. We’ve taken our name from our Scottish ancestors’ family motto, but our history is a little more recent.
We started Over Fork Over as a hobby and passion project. 12 years ago, Jessica caught the letterpress bug in college. Shortly after graduating, she bought our first printing press, a 120-year-old Golding Pearl No. 14, small enough to fit in our apartment at the time. She spent the next six years honing her skills after her 9-5, designing and printing for all our friends’ weddings and special events.
In the fall of 2018, we were both looking for a creative outlet and decided to combine our talents and make our foray into letterpress stationery, bringing together Ashley’s writing skills and Jessica’s design and print skills. Over Fork Over was born, and we created a product line of greeting cards, tote bags, enamel pins, and bandanas that feature heartfelt witty sentiments and nature-inspired designs. Letterpress is a very tactile printing method, and this has inspired our hands-on approach to creating our other goods.
In the last few years, we’ve vended at in-person markets in the central Florida area, and we began hosting letterpress printing workshops so that we could share our love of this unique print form with the community. We’ve also expanded into wholesale with Orlando-area businesses and offered custom print work for businesses and individuals. We love the art community within Orlando and how supportive it has been for us these past few years.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of our favorite cards that we’ve made says, “Not knowing where you’re going doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path.” That has rung true for us the past few years. It’s been a lot of trial and error and figuring out what works and what doesn’t, but it’s brought us to where we are. The sentiments on our products are informed by our feelings and real-life experiences, so the bumps in the road have definitely made us what we are today.
We had a few markets under our belts before the pandemic struck and sped up our timeline for growing our business. Similar to how others felt at that time, we were unsure of the future, but that uncertainty pushed us to pursue goals that we had put on the backburner. With in-person markets, not an option, we diversified into wholesale, custom print work, and expanding our online shop.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We live and breathe letterpress. It’s not always an easy craft; there are many intricacies that go into getting a high-quality print. It’s been amazing to see the revival of this hundreds-year-old printing method and how many resources there are now to get into the trade. We learned it in a time when that information wasn’t as readily available, so we had to glean our skills from old books, seasoned printers, and a lot of trial and error. It wasn’t always easy, but it gave us a huge appreciation and discerning eye for producing top-quality work.
We now work out of a studio in Longwood where our press collection has grown into several industrial production printing presses, including a Heidelberg Windmill, hot foil Kluge, an automated Chandler & Price, and our original Pearl Golding press. We also have several small printing presses that we use for workshops as well as live print demonstrations during markets.
The most important tenet for us is ensuring our clients know we are dedicated to providing the same high quality and attention to detail to their custom print projects as we do for our own products. We love helping clients bring their visions to life, be it through custom design work, branding, or printing their own designs. We’ve partnered with individuals to create personalized wedding invitation suites. We’ve worked with several businesses to develop branding and marketing materials including custom booklets, business cards, matchbooks, stationery, and product packaging. In an increasingly digital word, letterpress is a way for businesses to give their products an edge by incorporating unique tactile elements that set them apart from their competitors.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
The best advice that we can share is that there’s no one right path. Believe in yourself and your vision. It will take time and hard work, but it will be worth it. We’re all just carving new roads, and that’s what makes this so fun and exciting. Letterpress is a process that’s endured for 600+ years because it’s evolved into many different forms. We love to share our knowledge of the craft, so we welcome others to reach out to us if they ever have questions!
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@overforkover.co
- Website: www.overforkover.co
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/overforkover_co/
Image Credits
Jessica Cunningham
Ashley Cunningham
