Original, authentic, and sensory print
How we engage and identify with the print medium has an inextricable
link with the powerfully collative innovations in digital new media.
Print and, in particular, the antiquated process of screen-printing,
receives consistently less exposure within a digital era.
I use ‘collative’ here in respect of the Amazon Kindle. Influenced by
the smart phone, the pace of our lives and our e-reading habits on other
devices the Kindle came to be. Indeed the Kindle absolutely and
irrevocably flat-lined book sales in the western world and therefore
represented a decline in print worldwide.
We could think about this as being one collective shift within the
media sphere, influenced by the digitisation of our leisure and lives
within our post millennial and on-demand characteristics”
We could think about this as being one collective shift within the media
sphere, influenced by the digitisation of our leisure and lives within
our post millennial and on-demand characteristics.
The Kindle typified a transformation from physical to digital. But
publishers remained resilient and now stock smaller stocks of the same
range—for example.
My point here is printers must demonstrate a similar perception in adapting to the market place.
The world of industrial print technology is perpetually introducing its
newest advancements in high end laser printers, binders, wide-format
machines, cutters, integrated systems and so on. Similarly the processes
professional printers employ are timeless, yet what we hear much less
of is the advancements and sensory pleasures associated with the oldest
printing process, screen-printing.
Screen-printing has become an art form now very much
in vogue among the London art scene and hipster set. Pictured: Andy
Macgregor
Screen-printing presents some extreme and creative advantages over all
of its successors, especially for people who really engage and relate to
the medium.
A superior offering
Screen printers can print on almost any substrate; they have the
greatest creative range in applying the broadest range of ink coatings,
at the utmost concentration of ink deposit, and with the greatest colour
vibrancy. And with various online galleries like East London
Printmakers’ features show, the results are unbeatably vivid.
With the evolution of innovative special-effects inks, a design can
produce an even broader sensory experience with results that can be
heard, felt, tasted, and smelled”
Indeed, in an observation made on industrial-print.net, Ron Hayden views
screen-printing as a powerfully creative sensory medium: “With the
evolution of innovative special-effects inks, a design can produce an
even broader sensory experience with results that can be heard, felt,
tasted, and smelled. No other printing method can produce those types of
superior results.”
Advancements in value-adding finish applications in screen-printing have
also driven growth in the graphics and speciality UV ink sectors.
Silver Sunset by Chris Keegan, a beautiful example of the heights which
screen- printing can be taken too. The artwork is printed on Southbank
smooth 250gsm
The internet as a resource has an abundance of information on speciality
application solutions available, and tailored, for screen printers to
explore. These processes present formulated UV inks that have the power
and scope to render 3D like textures, UV foil effects, bubble-effects,
micro-embossing, as well as high gloss and matt finishes amongst a range
of other contemporary looks.
A resurgence in screen-printing has been felt in the capital, with new
businesses opening which specialises in this original technique. Their
work, authentic; their finishes, designs, and approaches, aesthetic; the
resulting artefacts are colourful, tangible, and bursting with
modern-day originality.
Dave Buonaguidi’s retro artworks can be found at printclublondon.com and are printed onto vintage linen
The features in Aspiration Avenue have thus far covered such varied
subjects as print finishing, material selection, minimalism in printing,
and design and trends in youth print culture. Lending from other areas
of media and the industry the feature has begun to situate print in a
contextual, revealing light. Trends in youth print culture sought to
show how young people are embracing the medium, and maybe commercial
printers can learn something from this too.
Commercial entity
So a welcomed addition to this array is the consideration of how adding
value to the screen-printing process has helped businesses to improve
their profit margins. Businesses need not focus on the decline in prints
use commercially; but focus on ways in which they can engage with new,
creative and ‘cool’ trends in print like the oldest of them
all—screen-printing.
Kid Spirit Maui 2: Created by Johnathan Reiner, who described himself as
a doctor by profession, a Neuroscience graduate, a past film editor and
an illustrator/doodler by heart
Ultimately there are new ideas, methods and finishing techniques that
are there to be tapped into and that can keep you and your business one
step ahead of the print and digital industry; only limited by ones
approach.
The capital has seen a rebirth in the art of
screen-printing as artists and studios respond to a cultural shift that
is seeing demand for artwork that is tangible, beautiful, and
authentically produced blossom
Screen printers in London have not only seen a resurgence in the
popularity of their works—with pieces selling for between £350 to
£750—but a renaissance in people’s desire to learn how to produce the
prints themselves. Now admittedly this is the upper end of the price
spectrum, and endorsed by successful designers and artists.
They truly culminate, powerfully, into something very contemporary and stylish”
Yet these pieces appear to constitute something that borrows from new
wave, pop art, and surrealist work; with the addition of successful
graphic designers, intelligent artists and creative, originally produced
designs. They truly culminate, powerfully, into something very
contemporary and stylish. These pieces, in others words, justify the
price tag as something with timeless style and originality.
(Above & below) Founded in 2006, Luma Studio
screen prints limited editions and one-off work for artists,
illustrators and designers. It prints special finishes using
fluorescent, metallic, iridescent, gloss and conductive inks
In fact these popularly attended courses act as a creative pursuit for
some and a genuine way to add value to your personal recreation or
business. A recent addition to the evening courses provided by the
creative club is the tutoring of the Cyanotype method. This is a
photographic printing process that historically was used as an
inexpensive and simple way of copying drawings and illustrations, a
combination of various elements would leave the print a vivid cyan blue.
The range of courses and variety of options is clearly testament to a
pique in interest and demand for this type of creative tutoring. What is
more, it is fascinating to implicitly connect this resurgence to
changes in the digital realm of media that we are so well-rehearsed in
relating to. What was once the inexpensive medium of choice adopted by
artists and illustrators is now niche being tutored and financed by the
post-gentrified inner city bohemia of inquisitive, intellectual, and
creative Londoners.
The imperfections of paint splatter, finger marks, and slight folds are
integral to the finished product and entirely part of the artistic
process. Rather than devaluing the product, it overtly does the
contrary; and renders the finished product authenticated with something
far removed from the mass produced object.
The prevailing picture is that we all seek authenticity in the products
we choose to purchase and value. And observing the rate of change has
led to a closer examination of areas in creative print that are still
alive, bourgeoning even. And whether that be specialised litho printed
covers for magazines, or screen printers over-laying new designs on a
tote bag,printers have to use clever graphic design, be ingenious or
inventive with their applications, or exude traditionally quality in
their inks and paper selection in order to pioneer and enhance the value
of their products.
This innovation is essential to instil value and allure into printers’
products for the future by retaining a cutting- edge in screen-printing.
In fact adopting these techniques has been a success in adding value to
certain London-based printers with popular screen prints being sold for
a price that reflects these innovative applications and finishes.
These businesses, classes, and work-shops are becoming more plentiful
and wide-spread from the recesses of new studios in Hackney Wick to
Tottenham. Far from being in jeopardy—in the capital at least—from new,
quicker more cost-effective electronic solutions, the screen-printing
industry continues to grow as new interest emerges.
Commercial future?
Screen-printing has always been a hybrid between printing and
manufacturing, with a huge sense of flow and collective strife in an
environment of that nature. Its applicability to industrial,
mass-produced works remains hard to engage as there is a distinct lack
of the organisation of production and data. Being a
production-orientated business some have suggested that the lack of an
electronic system leaves it unsuitable for industrial application.
From a clear increase in interest, to the comprehensive tutoring
classes; the attention the new and young generation of enthusiasts
afford to screen-printing will depend on its survival.
What is certain is screen-printing is continuing to drive innovations in
speciality inks and graphic sectors. Just as Hayden pointed out in his
2012 reflection, the process and its applications are only limited to
one’s imagination; other commentators that have remarked on the
screen-printing trends like Dobie, of Sefar Inc has said: “In my
opinion, the biggest impact for the future of screen-printing will be in
industrial applications.”
Despite its antiquity, the screen-printing process has modernised into
something cutting-edge and something supportive of innovation in sectors
like speciality inks and graphics. Screen-printing is a sensory medium;
it is creative, playful, and creatively autonomous.
Joseph Harvey writes on behalf of Instant Print W1. For more information visit www.ipw1.co.uk
Your text here...