What Is Screen Printing? And Why We Still Use It

What Is Screen Printing? And Why We Still Use It

In 1994, my father started working with screen printing. More than thirty years later, the same technique is still part of our family workshop. Today, my mother and I continue that work through Polender, combining what we learned in the printing workshop with our own illustrations, ideas and designs.

We started making bags in 2018. Since then, we have been creating our own designs, preparing the prints, printing the fabric, cutting it and sewing the bags ourselves. The process has grown and changed over the years, but screen printing remains one of the most important parts of what we do.

A Technique We Know Well

Screen printing is a technique in which ink is transferred onto fabric through a fine mesh screen. A stencil determines where the ink can pass through, while a squeegee pushes it across the screen and onto the material. When a design contains several colours, we print each colour separately.

The principle may be simple, but getting a good result takes experience. The type of fabric, the consistency of the ink, the pressure of the squeegee and even the way the screen is positioned can all affect the final print.

After so many years of working with the technique, we have learned to recognise these small differences and understand how to work with them. Screen printing has become something we know not only how to do, but how to feel.

Designing for the Print

For us, the process starts long before we prepare the screen. Every idea first appears as a small sketch in a sketchbook. Some stay there, while others slowly develop into illustrations that we want to see on fabric.

When an idea begins to take shape, we also think about how it will work as a print. An illustration that looks good on paper may not work in exactly the same way on fabric. We may simplify some lines, adjust shapes or separate the colours into individual layers.

Because we create both the illustration and the print ourselves, these two parts of the process are closely connected. We can develop an idea while thinking about how the ink will behave, how the colours will work together and how the final image will sit on the fabric.

When Screen Printing Meets Hand Painting

Some illustrations need more than screen printing alone. For these designs, we combine the printed elements with hand painting, using a stencil and screen-printing inks applied with sponges and fine brushes.

The sponge allows us to build broader areas of colour and softer textures, while fine brushes are used for smaller details. We add the hand-painted parts individually, so even when we use the same stencil and colours, the result can vary slightly from one bag to another.

We like the contrast between the two techniques. Screen printing gives the illustration structure and clarity, while hand painting leaves room for a more personal touch. We use this combination only when it adds something to the design.

The Slow Way, On Purpose

Working this way takes time. An illustration needs to be developed, prepared for printing and tested on fabric. When hand-painted details are involved, there is another stage that cannot simply be rushed. Then there is the cutting and sewing, which happens in the same workshop.

We know there are faster ways to make bags. We have simply chosen not to work that way.

Our bags are made in small quantities, and some designs naturally take longer than others. Because we create and produce everything ourselves, we can give each illustration the time it needs instead of adapting our work to a production line.

For a small family-run studio, this is an important part of how we work. The limited quantities are not there to make the bags seem exclusive. They are simply a natural result of making things ourselves, in our own workshop, one at a time.

No Two Alike

The hand-painted elements also mean that no two bags are completely identical. The same illustration can be repeated, but a painted landscape or detail will never land in exactly the same way twice.

We don’t see these small differences as imperfections. They are part of the process and a reminder that the bag has passed through someone’s hands. A small variation in colour or a brushstroke in a slightly different place is part of what makes each bag its own.

For us, handmade does not mean that every bag has to look dramatically different from the next. It means that there is still a person involved in the decisions and the making, rather than everything being reduced to an automated process.

Different Generation. Same Screen. New Ideas.

More than thirty years after my father first started working with screen printing, the technique is still here. It has simply found a new place in our work.

What began as my father’s printing workshop has become part of what my mother and I create together. We bring our own illustrations and ideas to the process, while continuing to work with a technique that has been part of our family for decades.

This is what Polender is for us: a mother-daughter studio where illustration, screen printing and sewing come together to make something useful, made slowly and with intention.