The Head & The Hand Press has been
building its brand from its home in Frankford Avenue’s Stationery Engravers building for the last three years, but September brought a big change for the Philly publisher.
"What’s amazing about Fishtown is it doesn’t have a university anchor there," says founder Nic Esposito of how the neighborhood matches the company's "scrappy" ethos. "There’s really no big corporation or business district there; it’s just an avenue of artists and young entrepreneurs and older people from the neighborhood who are pretty forward-thinking...People are just remaking that neighborhood building by building. Having that kind of energy and being a part of that was great…That was really the hardest thing about the move: Not so much leaving our space, but leaving the neighborhood."
But despite that neighborhood connection, the many benefits of the press’s September migration to office and events space at Society Hill’s historic
Physick House -- through a partnership with the
Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks -- were impossible to ignore.
The move to Physick House really got going when the late 18th-century site hosted a July fundraising dinner for the company. It went so well that Physick staffers suggested the house could be Head & The Hand’s headquarters. Timing was perfect since the press had just decided to seek a new home -- they received word on July 1 that their rent was about to go up. The lack of renovations to their space and the uncertain fate of the building led the group to give notice on the lease without knowing where they’d land.
The move is benefiting everyone.
"They know they need to get more people in there, a diverse group of people, not just people who usually go to historic houses, or tourists,” argues Esposito. Head & The Hand events and workshops will bring an influx of young, passionate visitors.
And it will be good for the press to be more centrally located, though Esposito still lives in (and loves) Fishtown.
"Fishtown will always be part of the Head & the Hand,” he insists, but “we really have an opportunity to reach so many more writers in Philadelphia…we are a Philadelphia publishing company. We’re here to serve all Philadelphians."
The company is just beginning their outreach to neighboring organizations and businesses in Society Hill, and hoping that new partnerships and programming will bloom.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Nic Esposito, The Head & The Hand Press