Three friends have told of how they produced thousands of Asian wedding cards for families by using a traditional letterpress.

Nazir Musa, A. Masud Rahi and Miah Emaam served the local, regional and national market by using the letterpress from their Adana, Pearl Treadle and Blockmaster foil machines.

Modern technology has since superseded the letterpress which was invented by German Johannes Gutenberg, who produced the first impressed movable metal letters known as ‘types’ with ink onto paper in the 15th century.

Asian wedding cards were unique and used to feature several languages including Urdu and Arabic.

Nazir said: "My very first customer was an elderly father who came with a couple of his male friends to choose the wedding cards.

“The bride, groom nor family had little say in the matter. The first wedding cards I sold were on a plain Astralux blue shiny card 3"x5"and £5 for a hundred including the envelopes in 1985.

“Over the next few decades the customers developed and parents would come in to choose the cards and later the bride or groom would have a say in the matter.

“Many of the weddings were arranged and the focus was on the couples having to be from the same religious sect and native village.”

 

Lancashire Telegraph:

Asian weddings have always been large events meaning wedding card orders of up to 500-600 cards were regularly requested. But as times changed so did the orders.

Nazir said: “My last order was from a Pakistani male and his English girlfriend wanting 20 cards and the families didn't even know about the wedding.”

Miah Emaam worked at a local engineering firm and his love of letterpress brought him into printing industry.

Meanwhile, Masud Rahi was a trained photographer and calligrapher from Pakistan whose works included photographing the late President Bhutto.

His front living room is still adored with some of his inspiring work. His calligraphy can be seen on grave stones in Urdu.

He said: “I still like to produce the annual Ramadan timetables and the odd wedding cards, but we rarely get asked as the current generations needs have moved onto computer generated stationery."

The three who live in Blackburn have remained good friends and often reflect the printing methods of letterpress, foil blocking and thermography (raised letters from a heated process).

Their customary annual New Year's Eve gatherings sees them pull out the ‘world famous’ Adana machine. They also keep some of their best creations still tucked away in drawers.

Nazir added: "The world is a much faster place and communication these days via e-mails, WhatsApp, has killed off a whole cottage industry."