About

Stanza 153 Press was founded in Spring 2016 by SF State instructor Pino Trogu and the students of DAI 226 Modern Letterpress Printing, since renamed DES 226. From Spring 2019 to Fall 2025 the class was taught by Prof. Monique Comacchio. Pino Trogu taught the class again in Spring 2026, marking the Tenth Anniversary of the course.

The class brings the students into the humanistic tradition of the typographer, printer, and publisher as it developed during the Renaissance in Europe, and teaches “composition”, or the basic skill of setting metal type by hand, letter by letter, into the composing stick, onto the galleys, and on to printing the text on a hand-operated proofing press.

After a gap of more than fifteen years, during which letterpress had not been formally taught in the Department of Design and Industry, Stanza 153 Press represents a renewal of that humanistic tradition, embodied by the enthusiasm and dedication of the  students who enrolled in the class.

The students of the Tenth Anniversary DES 226 class from Spring 2026 were:

Maya Alba
Brayden Concepcion
Nora Frank
Marco Gonzales
Becky Jiang
Marisa Kahn
Kai Liao
Olivia Maxwell
Gerald Mayupao
Cecil Montesa
Annabel Morales
Adrian Nunez
Alessandro Sanchez
Katy Velasquez
Michael Villanueva

The students in DAI 226 Modern Letterpress Printing from Spring 2016 were:

Andy An
Corey Blevins
Garrett Frisbey
Carlos Garcia
Francheska Machado
Travis Mackin
Nella Ocampo
Natalie Reclosado
Sinclair Riley
Jessica Rosario
Shea Sjoberg
Audrey Walker
Kimberly Wong
Lawrence Wong