For our next Sass Stories feature, let’s meet Adam Smith from Life is Funny Press out of Los Angeles.
What can I say about Adam? He’s tall but never short of jokes. You get a taste of his salty humor through his cards, but he also has some outstanding sentimental ones too. Plus his letterpress history is quite impressive. Read on!
How did you get started in your business?
I moved to LA from Massachusetts in 2003 and found a job at a local print shop doing bindery and customer service. Most of my job was cutting down paper for the pressmen to run, and trimming and packaging finished jobs. While working there I cut jobs down for and became friends with Chelsea and Jamie, who had recently opened their store, Sugar Paper.
After a couple years of some incessant begging, they ended up hiring me to print letterpress at their shop, and I worked there for almost 8 years.
I started printing my own stuff in 2009 but didn’t really pursue wholesale accounts until 2011.
I loved the idea of creating greeting cards and trying to get them into stores, and started doing it in my off hours on a friend’s press in a garage in Venice. In 2013, a while after buying my own press, I left to pursue Life Is Funny Press full time.
Three adjectives to describe you personally:
Honest, cute, sarcastic.
What inspires you and your craft?
My mushy, mushy heart.
How would you describe your brand?
I like to tell people that my humor and my handwriting both peaked in elementary school, and I’ve managed to turn that into a business.
If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?
Carbs. Specifically pizza, but bagels, bread, tortillas, etc. (I like cooking/baking and eating carbs).
Favorite movie?
Favorite movie is a loaded question. There is no definitive answer for me, though I do try to find situations everyday where I can reference The Big Lebowski.
If you were an animal what would you be and why?
Horse because I think sleeping while standing up is an admirable evolutionary goal.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
Fly, [so I can] save money on flights, poop on people.
What did you think you were going to be when you grew up?
Either a basketball player or a folk singer.
Thanks, Adam! And thank goodness you do not have that superpower! I can vouch that Adam’s actual superpowers include printing and cooking — he makes a mean pizza!
Check out the rest of his collection of letterpress cards at www.lifeisfunnypress.com. Adam does custom letterpress projects as well. If you live in Los Angeles, hit him up at his new pop-up shop at Adam’s Gateway at 5746 W. Adams Boulevard (times vary).
And if you want to see more of these hilarious videos he posts, follow him on Instagram @lifeisfunnyla: