Now what?

The Bindery is closed. What happens next to BearBear?

If you haven’t already…

Please read this post about why The Bindery is closing. Written by Zach Lifton, owner and founder of The Bindery himself.

You may know that BearBear has grown inside The Bindery from 2021–2025, literally expanding within its walls and renting bigger and bigger studio spaces almost every year as our business took on more equipment and client projects.

We were able to expand because we had full-time and part-time jobs in addition to BearBear. This allowed us to slowly and thoughtfully grow without the risk of relying solely on BearBear’s business to be profitable. But as we grew, our time to do our jobs and be entrepreneurs shrunk. The tipping point came. We made the switch to doing BearBear full-time three years ago.

Above: Accidental selfie from lakeshore hang last night. And a view from Grant Park.

That means our business is our livelihood. Every time we help you grow your art practice, print new merchandise for you to sell at a fair, or learn a fresh printmaking skill, we are funded to do what we love for a little while longer!

But now that we’ve moved out of The Bindery, and its doors are shuttering, we are getting questions about what happens to BearBear.

The answer is that we’re still in Bay View, still Risograph printing, still collaborating, and still in need of your support.

• Where is BearBear’s studio?

In two rooms of our home. The basement holds our 2-color MZ Risograph printer, paper cutting equipment, binding tools, paper, and ink color drums. An upstairs bedroom is our “office” that stores computers, desks, inventory to sell, and scanners.

Cactus Club currently houses our 1-color RZ Risograph printer for the foreseeable future in collaboration with Cactus+.

• Does BearBear offering classes?

Yes. “Riso Basics” has 2 last-minute openings for July 26th and only 2 seats left for August 30th. Email heybearbear@gmail.com if you’d like to book July’s spots because they are all sold out online.

We also offer:

• “Riso Open Studio” sessions (waitlist is open! Our small studio can only accommodate so many folks printing in our home at once. There are about 3 folks on the waitlist now. Email us to hold your place in line).

• 2-color Digital Riso classes. 1:1.

With The Bindery closing, we’re losing a queer-friendly pillar of the bookmaking and creative arts/writing community. But in the spirit of Zach’s IG post, our focus is on the opportunity left behind. How can we all support the ones who are still here?

It’s simple! Keep making Riso prints. Riso print your iPhone photos. Gift them to friends for the holidays or stick them on your fridge. Make prints from pages in your sketchbook. Print that picnic menu from a potluck gathering as a keepsake. Self-publish your secret poems. Keep printing! And we’ll do the same. We’re always here to help.

---

Speaking of still (Riso) printing…

The itinerate Risograph Repair Mechanic and Generous Wizard to All, Robert Baxter, is looking for your help to put down some roots in the Midwest (for now). Robert has traveled the country and successfully revived, diagnosed, and refurbished countless Risograph machines (though, we’re sure he’s actually keeping count in a spreadsheet somewhere). He’s helped so many people. Our Riso community literally wouldn’t be the same without him. As Rachel Hays of Taxonomy Press put it, “I'm optimistic we can pull all our crumpled zine dollars together to set him up with the stability he so deserves.” BearBear agrees. Please donate here.

Shout out to Aiden Bettine of Late Night Copies for organizing Robert’s GoFundMe.

---

More positive studio news, please.

The bears have been accepted to a record number of art book fairs / zine fests this year. 2025 has been a year of travel. We’ve roadtripped to Alabama and Virginia since May. More on where we’ll be next and how we’ll show up for the holiday season soon. Paperjam (the Fall/Winter market for print lovers and book nerds) isn’t happening due to The Bindery’s shuttering, so we’re looking for new options on how to get our 2025 Riso Calendar out into the world. Keep an eye out! This year’s calendar has a new theme that’s *UNBRIDLED* and will get you a *HOOFIN’* and a hollering for more.

In our next post, we aim to share real (eee!) ~*M0nEy nUm3r$*~ about our profit and losses for the first half of the year. You don’t want to miss it if you’re wondering about the break-down of our expenses and how we make money as working artists :-)

On Diana’s Night Stand…

• Best floss ever, as recommended by a bestie who’s also a dentist. Our friend bought 6 packs here whilst visiting from London.

• Favorite Summer lip balm in a tin.

• The hair claw clip that has stood the test of time. Years and years of good grip. Vetted against fancy bits and bobs that have broken, been too heavy, too small, or just plain over-priced, like Machette, Undo, and Alexandre de Paris.

• The book that’s about simple matters.

• A cookbook that Ben cannot put down. Our ripening squash and mini carrots in the garden are no match.

Anyone else wearing bro sunglasses like me after their lobotomy?

Final Scene

Fruit flies and hot dogs,
Diana