The Old Press
Literature & Storyhouse in Lillesand
Den Gamle Pressen in Lillesand emerges from a simple, yet serious realization: that a living democracy does not only require information, but people who understand how stories are shaped, interpreted, and how they influence us. At a time when technology accelerates the pace of public discourse and more and more of our conversations move into digital spaces, we seek to breathe new life into a historic newspaper and printing house as a physical arena for narrative competence and civic dialogue — a place where experience, language, and perspectives can meet with time, presence, and responsibility.
The project is therefore not primarily about restoring a building, but about restoring a function that has become increasingly rare: a place where individuals, businesses, and institutions can develop the ability to understand themselves, one another, and the society they are part of. When stories are produced faster than ever before, the ability to read them critically and discuss them openly becomes a democratic necessity. If such places do not exist, we risk allowing storytelling to be shaped more by algorithms and speed than by reflection and responsibility.
If we succeed, Den Gamle Pressen can become a living example of how a historic building can serve as democratic infrastructure — not as a nostalgic reminder of a former public sphere, but as an investment in the conversations of the future.
But before Den Gamle Pressen can become such a center, we must begin somewhere entirely different: with dust, worn floors, and two-hundred-year-old premises in need of new life. We are facing an extensive renovation with limited resources, a tight timeline, and many unknown factors. Perhaps the project is larger than we are. Perhaps that is precisely why we must try. Because if we fail to give this space a new function, we lose more than a building — we lose the opportunity to create a place where people can meet, think together, and develop language for the time we are living in.
Follow us on the journey…
About Us
Anne Day and Antoni Pisani are the initiators behind Den Gamle Pressen - a center for narrative competence, storytelling, and civic dialogue in Lillesand. Through Day | Pisani Creative Studio, they work at the intersection of story, place, and values-based development, drawing on backgrounds in visual communication and photography (Anne), and PR and strategic communication (Antoni).
Both bring broad experience from national and international professional environments - Anne from New York and Basel, Antoni from London and Oslo - before choosing to establish their work in Lillesand. This decision does not represent a retreat from larger arenas, but a deliberate commitment to developing long-term initiatives rooted in local places and communities. Their work is grounded in the conviction that smaller towns can serve as strong platforms for professional development, collaboration, and innovation.
Through their work as career advisors and communication consultants, they have encountered individuals, businesses, and institutions at various stages of transition. This experience has shaped their understanding of narrative competence as a key skill - both for personal orientation and for organizations seeking to work more consciously with identity, values, and social responsibility. For Day and Pisani, sustainable development is not primarily about growth alone, but about cultural understanding, responsible practice, and belonging.
Their work is anchored in the Story Living philosophy, which emphasizes that stories are not merely communicated, but realized through action, place, and community. Through the Association Den Gamle Pressen - Center for Narrative Competence and Civic Dialogue - they seek to establish a lasting meeting place for reflection, learning, and public conversation between individuals, professional communities, and the local society.