Sunroom Space Brings Risograph Print Studio, Retail Shop To West Town

WEST TOWN — A design label that specializes in risograph printing of art prints, album artwork, concert posters, books and other projects has opened in West Town — and its front room includes a retail shop open to the public. Sunroom Space, 2401 W. Ohio St., is the first brick-and-mortar home for Sunroom Studios , which was co-founded in 2018 by husband-and-wife duo Clare Bryne and Jake Stolz. Byrne and Stolz have long worked across various creative industries and scenes in Chicago. Byrne has designed concert posters for many local artists and venues on top of other design work, and Stolz is also a videographer and plays in several bands. Sunroom has expanded over the years to house the couple’s various ventures, which also includes a record label that puts out ambient music on top of their printing business, Stolz and Byrne said. The curated retail shop, which stocks prints, books, albums and other work of their own design and from artists they admire, is the latest extension of their offerings. “Our risograph prints are really textural … and it was really important for us to have a physical space for people to come in and view them,” Byrne said. “Also, we just wanted to work offline more and be around people in the neighborhood and have people come in and talk about our work with them. It’s so much more of a real world experience than e-commerce.” Byrne and Stolz met when Byrne began designing show posters for Varsity , one of the many local bands Stolz plays in. An early project Sunroom undertook was releasing limited edition cassettes and other releases, work that today continues as an imprint of the label Earth Libraries . The couple’s creative work later expanded to include what’s called the Monthly Flyer Club, a service through which Byrne and Stolz mail a new print to subscribers ever month, for $5 a pop. The prints have included seasonal motifs, calendars and other themes, according to an archive on the Sunroom website . “That kind of planted a seed for us, that there has to be other ways to for us to share the work that we’re making where it just doesn’t disappear into the void of the Internet,” Byrne said. “I think [the shop] just brings it to the next level.” The retail section at Sunroom Space offers a range of prints and show posters, including a recent one for Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, as well as one-of-a-kind works that won’t be replicated. There are also records, matchbooks, candles and a series of art books with topics ranging from avant-garde film to the brand Online Ceramics to the art created at the famed Chicago settlement house Hull House. The one-room shop makes space a precious commodity, the couple said, but they’ve also found inspiration in those limitations. “It’s a blessing in a way to be limited by the tiny shop form,” Stolz said. “There’s only so much you can put in here, and it’s been fun to have that curatorial hand.” Still in its early days, the ethos of Sunroom Space remains fluid. Stolz and Byrne like it that way. The space “is still revealing itself to us, not to be too mystical,” Stolz said. The couple also hopes to use the studio to host in-person events, such as art shows, performances by ambient musicians or vinyl listening parties when musicians release a new record. “Everyone, especially post-COVID, is looking for more offline experiences, and that’s going to happen in physical spaces,” Byrne added. Sunroom Space is open noon-6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. ______________________________________________________________________ Support Local News! Subscribe to Block Club Chicago , an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription , or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation. Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: From Stoves To Overhead Heat: The History Of The CTA’s Warming Lamps Episode play icon From Stoves To Overhead Heat: The History Of The CTA’s Warming Lamps Episode play icon Should Chicago Have Public Festival Grounds? It’s On The Ballot. Episode play icon Need A Halloween Costume? A Chicago Thrifting Expert Shares Her Secrets Load More Search Results placeholder Previous Episode Show Episodes List Next Episode