Presented for the RMIT Design Archive by Marius Foley
Wednesday 26th July was the busiest day in the program for MRBW 2023, with five events. The day started with “Into the Archive: Creating Designer Books”, where Marius Foley presented an enlightening session on the history of Backyard Press and Champion Books, founded in the 1970s in Greville Street, Prahran, by Ted Hopkins. Marius had a long involvement with the Press, and his personal reminiscences shed important light on this little-known story of Melbourne’s small press culture that produced poetry, artist books, design and photobooks, posters, and ephemera. Marius was incredibly generous as he took guests through many of the Press’s publications, which were on display for viewing during and after the session at the RMIT Design Archives. The event was enjoyed by a full house of most of the 40 people who had booked.