ORERI

Oreri-Initiativa Editoriale is an independent publishing house based in Oreri's printing workshop. We use our presses to explore new ways of imagining, shaping and distributing publications on topics related to design, art, literature, ecology, politics and other forms of critical thinking that we consider important at this moment in history. Our publications are all influenced by the printing process we use, which determines not only the aesthetics but also the print run, size and other material aspects of the books we produce. Printing in risograph allows us to operate independently, and imposes on us the responsibility of resisting the uniformity of the modes of publication imposed by the market.

We are a tiny press permanently staffed by two people, and depending on the project we rely on a wide network of professionals for translation, editing, editorial assistance, binding, etc. We strive to produce high quality books and offer fair conditions to those who work with us, which requires a lot of time, a lot of attention to detail and, of course, a lot of resources. Therefore, we cannot publish as many proposals as we receive, nor as many books as we would like.

Often our books originate from projects, research or practices with which we are already in contact, but we also evaluate new proposals. When we like a project but it is not possible for us to produce a book with our own resources, we look for ways to facilitate self-publication by making our publishing and printing services available. If you think Oreri is the right publisher for your project, or if you would like to contact us regarding the distribution of our books, or for anything else related to our publications, please email us at editoriale@oreri.ooo. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Oreri means “maker – or filler – of hours”. With the irony typical of the slang spoken in Cagliari, it is an epithet given to those who are usually busy doing nothing, the regulars of the cafés near the port who spend their days reading the sport newspapers, scrounging for coffee, or sipping on alcoholic beverages while discussing the latest controversy with other oreris. We chose this name as a tribute to our city, as a symbol of both our resistance against the dogma of productivity and our wish to cultivate heterogeneous relationships in our vicinity and further afield. Though a very local word, oreri comes from a slang informed by a port city. Cagliari has always been in constant exchange with the southern and northern shores of the western Mediterranean Sea and the Sardinian countryside. The world is full of oreris and there must be many other words to describe them.