Collaboration with Oce brings innovative project to fruition.

Oce, a Canon Group Company and an international leader in digital document management, today announced an exciting new collaboration with Daydream Alchemy Press that is poised to revolutionize the world of publishing.

The brainchild of veteran publisher Edward Innes, Chicago-based Daydream Alchemy will bring projects to life that otherwise would have never seen the light of day. Best described as a printing/publishing broker, Daydream Alchemy seeks to take advantage of new technologies to bridge the gap between artists, publishers, and printers.

"You've got all this technology now that allows artists and writers to do all sorts of absolutely insane crazy things," said Innes. "At the same time, Oce has gone completely over the top, breaking the 300 page-a-minute limit and bringing color into the high-speed inkjet digital solution. That presents huge opportunities."

Innes was particularly impressed by Oce's ability to eliminate minimum press runs of 1,000 or more, allowing for micro-press runs and paving the way for more self-publishing and print-on-demand titles.  "Oce is eager to demonstrate the capability of their machinery and willing to put their product up against offset, which is fascinating," said Innes. "The lines that used to exist between digital and offset are disappearing and it's going to be fun to be part of that revolution."

First Books Part of Oce Equipment Demo

Oce and several of its finishing partners will be producing Daydream Alchemy's debut titles live on the tradeshow floor at Graph Expo, October 7 - 10 at McCormick Place South, Chicago, Ill in the Canon booth (#400).

This first run will include a children's picture book, Claire and Her Clarinet, and a young adult action-adventure novel, Auggie Drucker, along with Dreams of an Insomniac, a collection of short stories by the president of Daydream Alchemy's fiction division, Matthew Jankiewicz, and Los Cantantes a portfolio of works by Juan Andres da Corte, the company's art director.

The book blocks will be printed on the Oce ColorStream 3900 inkjet printing system, Oce JetStream 1400 inkjet printing system, and Oce VarioPrint 6000 Ultra Series digital perfecting system, while the corresponding book covers will roll off the Canon imagePRESS C7010VPS printer.

"We have the widest portfolio of solutions to offer in the digital print space, from cut-sheet to continuous feed, inkjet to toner, color to black and white," said Francis A. McMahon, Vice President, Marketing, Production Printing Systems division of Oce North America, a Canon Group company. "Along with Oce PRISMAsync software solutions, we really can bring the publishing space a true end-to-end solution."

Excited to see their new venture launched in such a grand fashion, Innes and Jankiewicz will also be participating in a panel discussion on Tuesday, October 9th, as well as a book signing.

"It's a unique opportunity to help launch a publisher in the booth at the show," said McMahon. "We are very happy to partner with Daydream and help enable them and their publishing needs."

In the future, Daydream Alchemy hopes to collaborate with as many of Oce's customers as possible, as it seeks to expand its business model and open more vistas in the publishing world.

Innes also looks forward to further exploring the breadth of Oce's offerings, including the Oce PRISMAsync controller software.

About Daydream Alchemy

Chicago-based Daydream Alchemy grew out of a two major observations by Managing Director Edward Innes: 1) A wealth of talented young artists have been coming out of college only to be greeted by a market that isn't in any position to publish their work or embark on new projects. 2) Advancements in digital printing technology allow what was impossible just a few years ago to be possible today.

Raised in the trade publishing industry, Innes has spent more than 30 years with Innes Publishing, working on High Volume Printing, In-Plant Printer, and Instant and Small Commercial Printer magazines. Daydream Alchemy is his first foray into book publishing. GE 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of his first Graph Expo.