The Story of the Riso

Risograph printing, often called Riso, is a unique and sustainable printmaking process that blends elements of screen printing and digital duplication. Originally developed in 1964 by Noboru Hayama, founder of the RISO Kagaku Corporation, the machine was intended as a fast, affordable way to duplicate documents. However, since the early 90s, artists and designers have embraced Risograph printing for its vibrant colours, unique textures, and happy accidents.

Unlike traditional printers that use toner or ink cartridges, Risograph printers create stencil-based prints, layering colours one at a time to produce rich, dynamic images.

How the Risograph Works

1. The Master and the Drum

• When you send a PDF/PSD file to the Riso machine (or scan your artwork manually), it creates a master stencil (kind of like a thin, wax-coated sheet with perforations for the ink to pass through)
• This master sheet is wrapped around an ink-filled drum, which contains one specific colour of ink.

2. The Printing Process

• The drum spins at high speed, forcing rice bran oil-based ink through the stencil and onto the paper as it moves through the machine.
• The Risograph can only print one colour at a time, so if your design uses multiple colours, each layer must be printed separately and carefully aligned.
• The machine is "colour blind", meaning it reads only black, white, and greyscale values to determine how much ink to apply in each area.

3. Layering & Overprinting

• By running the same sheet through the machine multiple times - each time using a different drum loaded with a new colour - you can layer colours to create bold compositions, unexpected overlaps, and custom hues.
• Because Riso inks are semi-transparent, overlapping two colours can create a third blended colour. (e.g., Yellow + Teal = Green, or Fluo Pink + Yellow = Orange).

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Preparing Your Artwork for Riso Printing

🌈 Understanding Colour & Layers

Because the Risograph prints one colour at a time, your design must be prepared in separate layers for each colour you want to use.