KENNESAW, Ga. – January 10, 2007 - What began as a small operation out of a Detroit basement in 1995 has quickly grown to become a versatile, established print shop known as Crystal Clear Images. Owner Crystal Mitchell began her career as a school teacher in graphic design after completing a college degree in communications. Soon she started her own communications and media company, and grew a loyal customer base with her talent for creating business cards, menus, and a host of other materials for friends and acquaintances.
“Four years later, requests for four-color work had become too constant to ignore,” Mitchell said. “We decided to invest in a Heidelberg GTO press because I wanted to make sure we had the best equipment possible to develop Crystal Clear Images.” The husband and wife team – Crystal with her husband Anthony – are “the brains and the brawn of the business.”
After purchasing the company’s first building in 2000 and continuing to expand its portfolio of offerings, Mitchell recently decided to invest in Heidelberg’s Prinect Printready prepress system and Suprasetter A52 platesetter to meet the demands of customers who are accustomed to the same-day service that Crystal Clear Images provides. “When people heard that we were installing Heidelberg’s Suprasetter A52 and Prinect system, the amount of business influx was incredible,” Mitchell said.
The company creates banners, menus, business cards, UV-coated billboards and a variety of business materials for its clients. It is a union print shop, often printing for the city of Detroit, the county and various political candidates. The company recently went live with a new e-commerce site, Crystalclearimages.com, where it will specialize in producing quality full-color printing and UV coating for clients nationwide at affordable prices.
In the next three years, Mitchell hopes to expand into a 20,000-sq.-ft. building to continue growing the business. “We will continue to look to Heidelberg for our equipment because of the name and reputation of the equipment,” Mitchell said. “It is true that Heidelberg is the Rolls Royce of printing.” With a team of eight employees and Heidelberg sales representative Curtis Leszczynski, Mitchell looks forward to continuing success with Heidelberg.