When Original Screen took the Supreme Award at Pride In Print on May 28, it was a big moment for the company and the industry. Screen printing doesn’t exactly have a reputation as the sexiest process in print, but Original Screen is fast changing that.
The company has proved to be one of the boldest players in the print industry, and its ambitions don’t seem to end here. Indeed, the Pride In Print Supreme Award is just a continuation of an amazing past year for Original Screen.
In late 2003, at the Screen Graphic Imaging Association of Australasia Awards, Original Screen won an unprecedented seven awards including a silver, five golds and the supreme award. Around the same time, it installed its massive 34m x 10m Thieme 5070 machine, the world’s largest press of its kind and began ramping up business dramatically. Original Screen said that 12 months’ worth of production could now be done in six weeks.
The investments have not been without risk, and, in receiving their Supreme Award at Pride In Print, the company’s directors paid tribute to their staff for the hard work that has enabled them to reach the pinnacle of print excellence. Director Greg Nash described the past year as a “fairytale ride” for Original Screen.
Just over three years ago, the company was a nine person operation. Today, that number is in the mid 20s and continuing to rise. The company has quickly built a reputation for quality and its Supreme Award for the ‘Made In NZ’ entry at Pride In Print was appropriate reward. The judges described it as “a stunning example of screen printing”.
With its focus on quality and its strength in volume, it is surely not the last time that Original Screen make such a strong appearance at Pride In Print. The Thieme 5070, which was purpose built for Original Screen was bought following the Fespa expo in 2002 in Madrid. There, they also purchased an automatic coating machine and stencil processor. The five colour Thieme is capable of capable of 800 finished five-colour prints per hour on sheets up to 1600mm x 2600mm. It was the eighth Thieme printing press to be installed in the company’s factory.
Original Screen became just the ninth winner of the Supreme Award, and the first screen printing company to take out the premier prize. It followed on from last year’s Supreme Award won by APN Webprint Colour which was the first web printer to take out the top award.
The spate of awards won by Panprint at the 2004 version of Pride In Print. meant it kept its position as the most prodigious winner in the history of the awards. The Auckland company now has 41 gold medals since the inaugural awards in 1993, ahead of McCollams with 30 and Format with 28. Panprint also tops the overall medal chart, including highly commended awards, with 126, again followed by McCollams with 85 and Format with 77.
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