Printing the Future, Preserving the Past

“Texas A&M was an amazing place,” he said of his Aggieland years. While he enjoyed live music at Northgate and football games with friends, his professors instilled in him a high level of discipline and academic rigor that set him up for future success. “I didn’t find law school as difficult as I thought it would be. My time at Texas A&M had prepared me for that,” he said.  

After graduation, Hall studied international management in Japan before earning a Juris Doctorate in Dallas. He was practicing law in Houston when the Berlin Wall fell. Seeing the momentous historical event as an opportunity to expand his horizons, he enrolled in a program for the study of European Law at the University of Salzburg in Austria to earn credits toward a second law degree. He worked at a law firm in Germany before returning to the United States to receive an additional degree in international law in California, then continued his legal work in Germany while also lecturing on American law at a university in Bonn. 

Hall’s career would go on to include a private law practice in Houston, a position at the International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and a role leading the international division of a Fortune 500 software company. In the late ’90s, he co-founded a tech company in Austin that provided an online exchange platform for education. He sold the company in the early 2000s and returned to practicing law while developing a new interest: antique photography. 

Keeper of the Book 

As Hall’s tintype collection grew, he began researching techniques for binding his art when books, once again, opened new worlds to him. Like Alice discovering Wonderland, Hall fell down a rabbit hole into book arts—papermaking, bookbinding and fine printing. “I had no idea this world existed and that Austin was a leading location for book artists,” he said. The more he learned about books as works of art and archival vessels of cultural history, the more passionate he became. He attended classes and symposiums on the topic and started collecting rare and unusual books. 

“I’d always loved books and had collected them since I was a kid,” said Hall, whose personal library now contains volumes by leading modern book artists from around the world, as well as books with fine binding and printing techniques. 

In 2009, Hall’s enthusiasm led him to the Book History Workshop at Texas A&M’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. A five-day experience limited to 20 students per year, this workshop provides an intensive, hands-on introduction to the history of books and printing. The workshop was Hall’s opportunity to try every step of the bookmaking process, from casting type and mixing ink to typesetting and using a hand press. Each workshop cohort recreates a historical pamphlet, something that would have originally been printed utilizing these techniques. It is the only annual university-sponsored learning experience of its type in North America. 

“I was fascinated by that class,” he said. “It was a turning point in my life. I realized how important the printed book has been to our culture and civilization, and how important it will remain.” 

As he delved further into bookmaking, Hall also became involved with Austin’s documentary filmmaking scene. He started helping with small tasks on productions and eventually became a producer and director. His 2011 film “Sushi: The Global Catch” looked at the global growth of sushi and the resulting stress on fish populations. The film screened in 47 countries and was well received, winning a Special Jury Award at the Seattle Film Festival.