Photograph by Lola Scott
Zines, event flyers, greeting cards. Chances are you’ve seen risograph prints without knowing what they are. A risograph looks like a copy machine, but inside is a drum filled with soy-based ink that can make hundreds of colorful, eco-friendly prints in minutes. Risography—the Japanese digital printing method that blends photocopier efficiency with screenprint quality—was created in the 1980s. It quickly spread across the world as an affordable way to mass-produce colorful art prints; nearly half a century later, it remains popular, especially among visual artists, small businesses, and community activists. “This is a production tool for the people,” says Samantha Richardson, the founder of Posy Press, a design and teaching studio that joined the local “riso” scene in late 2025 in the newly revamped Goat Farm Arts Center.
Posy Press adds a pop of color to the art complex’s ongoing construction: Visitors are welcomed into the studio with a hot-pink, art nouveau–style floral logo. Inside, Posy’s walls are covered with vibrant prints from past classes, and in the back, you’ll find the studio’s workhorses: the noisy risographs, nicknamed “Rosie the Riso” and “Lily.” In addition to hosting events where artists sell riso prints, the studio offers classes for a range of skill levels, which Richardson coleads with illustrator and risograph wiz Arantza Pena Popo. The three-hour intro classes ($150) are capped at nine students so that everyone has time to workshop their projects with Richardson and Popo.
Photograph by Maddy Lyons
Photograph by Lola Scott
Richardson studied graphic design at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before launching into corporate and freelance design work. In 2024, while looking to make her next career move, she began exploring risograph printing. Her friend Talia Bromstad, the owner of local risograph-printmaking studio Bromstad Printing Co., helped Richardson find “Rosie the Riso” through a local office supplier; it was love at first print.
Richardson’s riso career kicked off in earnest after an artist’s residency with Fulton County Public Art and Downtown Atlanta. Her project—trippy risograph designs that were animated and projected across downtown—ended with an open-studio night at her new Posy Press space in September. “After doing client services for so long, part of me never really believed I could have a business focused on art and creativity,” Richardson says. “I’m just really thankful to be part of all these different artists’ journeys.”
In a Posy Press intro class, students begin their risograph prints with an image, whether a photo, watercolor, or colored-pencil drawing; any two-dimensional medium can be risographed. Next, they use software to split their design into two layers and experiment with the studio’s 12 colors, such as light lime and metallic gold, selecting two for their print. The risograph burns each colored layer onto a separate master stencil that wraps around an ink drum. Students leave with 30 copies of their own unique design.
Despite the risograph’s mechanized design, the process is far from perfect, with print misalignments and muddy colors often creating unexpected results. But the quirks are part of the appeal, Richardson says. “Risograph is a tactile medium, which makes final prints look like works of art,” she explains. “It’s imperfection as art.”
This article appears in our May 2026 issue.
