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Interviews with Industry Executives, Commentary & Analysis from WhatTheyThink Contributors and other video features.

Profiles in Print BJU Press
Profiles in Print
BJU Press

 

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Profiles in Print Thysse
Profiles in Print
Thysse

 

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Profiles in Print Colorchrome
Profiles in Print
Colorchrome

 

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Profiles in Print DCG ONE
Profiles in Print
DCG ONE

 

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Profiles in Print Premier Press
Profiles in Print
Premier Press

 

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TODO
Seattle-Based RPI Finds Business Success in B2B and B2C Personalized Products

In this interview, CEO Rick Bellamy talks about how his company is structured, some of the recent acquisitions he has made and why, the impact of the pandemic on his business, and why he thinks we are in "the golden age of print." Watch Video

TODO
The Elephant in the (Bath)room?

From Egyptian papyrus, to today’s handmade papers, to paper made from stone and hemp, Frank looks at the evolution of writing and paper—as well as one recent paper made from an…unusual but all-too-common material. Watch Video

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Digital Technology Changing the Face of Fabric Printing

At the Digital Textile Printing Conference hosted by Smithers, Jena Nesbitt, Product Strategy Director for Oregon-based Pine Crest Fabrics, presented a session on how digital printing has affected the ability of small manufacturers and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands to develop trend right textile designs quickly and inexpensively. In this video, she talks about how digital printing technologies have changed the game for her business and her brand owner customers. Watch Video

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Matt Reddington Introduces Veritiv Vine

In part 1 of a two-part video interview, David Zwang talks to Matt Reddington, Director of Global Design Services for Veritiv, about Veritiv Vine, the company’s new packaging and brand design offering. Vine is intended to bridge the gap between design and packaging production, combining design creativity with supply chain expertise. Watch Video

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Warren Werbitt Goes Printer to Printer with Ideal Printers

This week, Warren Werbitt talks with Lana Siewert-Olson and Andy Olson of St. Paul, Minn.’s Ideal Printers, a sheetfed shop that predominantly serves businesses in the Twin Cities. When the pandemic hit, the company’s customers were in highly affected markets; Ideal’s sales dropped 50% and the company had to layoff some of its workforce. Watch Video

TODO
Springs Creative Team Shares Latest Developments for Designers and Brands (Part 2)

In part 2 of this video interview, Kathryn Lawrie, Kathy Phillips and Cathy Valent share more of the latest developments at Springs Creative, including new acquisitions for its Baxter Mill archive, an increased focus on fabrics and designs for home decor, and its ability to help designers and brands find inspiration when traveling around the world to find new ideas has become difficult during the pandemic. Watch Video

TODO
Lilly Pulitzer Increases Agility, Reduces Lead Time with Digital Technologies

Margaret Getty, Senior Associate, Woven Fabric and Trim, for Lilly Pulitzer, shares the company's founding story and talks about how it has evolved over the years, most particularly, how digital design and print technologies have helped the company carve significant cycle time out of its go-to-market process. Watch Video

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Frank’s Reading Rainbow

Frank reviews two books this week. The first is “A Place for Everything—The Curious History of Alphabetical Order” by Judith Flanders, which provides an interesting look at how the alphabet evolved. The second is the more technical “Printing-Process Control and Standardization” by RIT’s Robert Chung, whose students have become the "apostles of color" around the world. Every printer should have a copy. Watch Video

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Smithers’ Sean Smyth Talks About Digital Print for Packaging

Smithers print consultant Sean Smyth talks to David Zwang and recaps some of the highlights of Smithers' recent “Digital Print for Packaging” virtual event. Key takeaways included the relative resilience of the digital label and packaging communities, the emergence of cannabis packaging, and how ecommerce is changing the demand for and nature of packaging. Watch Video

TODO
Warren Werbitt Goes Printer to Printer with John Cassidy

This week, Warren talks with John Cassidy, Co-Founder and President of Myrtle Beach, S.C.’s Duplicates INK, about how he started the company with a friend of his out of college, how the company managed through the current “craziness,” and the importance of being a partner for clients and not just a vendor. Watch Video

TODO
EXCLUSIVE: EFI Chief Revenue Officer Frank Mallozzi Provides Details about New Nozomi C18000 PLUS

EFI launched its digital direct-to-corrugated press, the Nozomi C18000, at drupa 2016. Since that time, the company has placed a number of units, and at least two companies have purchased two units. Now, based on market experience and customer feedback, EFI has launched the second generation, the Nozomi C18000 PLUS, available as a field upgrade. Hear what Frank Mallozzi has to say. Watch Video

TODO
Springs Creative Team Shares Latest Developments for Designers and Brands (Part 1)

In the first part of a two-part video interview, Kathryn Lawrie, Kathy Phillips and Cathy Valent share the latest developments at Springs Creative, including new acquisitions for its Baxter Mill archive, an increased focus on fabrics and designs for home decor, and its ability to help designers and brands find inspiration when traveling around the world to find new ideas has become difficult during the pandemic. (Look for part 2 of this interview next Monday, 11/02.) Watch Video

TODO
Frank Plays with the Stones

Color printing began with Alois Senefelder, who developed the process we now know as lithography, printing using a variety of limestone. Before there was process color with offset lithography, there was chromolithography, color printing using litho stones which overlaid different colors. Frank provides a short history of chromolithography, Louis Prang, its most famous practitioner, and shows some beautiful samples of this colorful printing art produced from 1900 to 1910. After 1910, CMYK inks were formulated and offset began the path to color printing. Watch Video

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Warren Werbitt Goes Printer to Printer with Sölvi Sveinbjörnsson

In this week's Printer to Printer, Warren Werbitt talks to Sölvi Sveinbjörnsson, CEO of Reykjavik, Iceland’s Umslag. The company specializes in transactional and security printing—and in fact is the only company in Iceland doing that kind of work. Umslag was relatively lucky; other printers in Iceland had catered to the tourist industry, which was shut down due to the COVID crisis. Watch Video

TODO
AATCC Update: What's New and What's Coming

AATCC Executive Vice President Diana Wyman shares the latest AATCC updates, including initiatives that will be considered at the association's November virtual committee meetings, the availability of a PPE monograph on efficacy of various types of masks, sustainability, and more. Watch Video

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Frank Turns the Rules

Frank shows some newspapers with large, black inter-column rule lines. This was called “turning the rules” and was used to indicate mourning when a president or some other prominent personality died. The practice continued until the Kennedy era. Watch Video

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Warren Werbitt Goes Printer to Printer with DSG | UW's Justin Pallis

In this week's installment of Warren Werbitt’s Printer to Printer video series, he talks to Justin Pallis of Lowell, Mass.’s DSG | UW. In January, DSG started the process of acquiring Universal Wilde, which would essentially double the company’s size. Then COVID hit—just as DSG | UW started building a new facility in the Boston area. Palis talks about how they managed a complex merger in the midst of the crisis. Watch Video

TODO
Independent Digital Printer ISS Discusses Its Conversion to an AlphaGraphics Franchise

Jeff and Eric Schwarz chose to convert their independent digital printing company, ISS, to an AlphaGraphics franchise in the summer of 2019. In this interview, they share their reasons for making the change and what it has meant for their business. Watch Video

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All the News That’s Fit for Someone Else to Print

Frank uses a giant 1880s Hoe rotary flatbed press—the machine that revolutionized the printing industry—as a jumping-off point to talk about how newspapers are getting out of their own printing. As newspaper circulation has gone down, newspapers can’t afford their own production, so newspaper printing—and often of rival newspapers—is being consolidated in a single production facility. Watch Video

TODO
Warren Werbitt Goes Printer to Printer with Kurt Ellinger

In this week's installment of Warren Werbitt’s Printer to Printer video series, he talks to Kurt Ellinger of Tactive, which had just recently undergone a rebrand (the company was formerly called Print Resources). The company was started in 2000 strictly as a print broker, but gradually added digital and wide-format printing equipment. Ellinger also talks about the company’s major MIS implementation, and why Tactive chose Avanti. Watch Video