Q&A: Matt Bates, business development manager, Chesapeake

05 May 2014

Design

Matt’s Cornish roots are evident in the fact that after leaving school he studied printing at Plymouth College of Art & Design. He subsequently embarked upon something of a tour of the industry’s educational establishments, moving to Nottingham to study print media management at Nottingham Trent University, before topping off his education with a degree in print, packaging and graphics at Leeds University. Including subsequent roles at Boots Print and now Chesapeake, he’s spent 21 years in print and packaging.

Why did you get into printing?

I was initially fascinated by the local paper, the Cornish Times. After work experience there, I looked locally at the options open to me after school, which led me to study printing

What would be your dream job?

I love the role I’m in now, but mountain bike test rider would be up there as a dream job

What is your dream bit of kit?

Santa Cruz Bronson 650b Carbon MTB

What is your favourite TV show?

After all of the hype, we’ve just started to watch Breaking Bad. We’re now hooked on it

What is your favourite saying?

I describe great packaging as a ‘love triangle’ – great constructional design coupled with fantastic graphics, overlaid with innovative print and finish effects

What is your favourite album?

Elbow’s The Seldom Seen Kid

What is your greatest luxury in life?

Time spent with family and friends

What is the strangest job you’ve ever done?

As a student, I worked in a kebab shop in Looe during the summer months. Strangely, I don’t get the urge for a kebab very often...

What is your greatest ambition?

To see my children grow up happy and healthy

What’s your greatest fear?

My daughter has a rare liver disease. This is pretty scary, but we hope for medical advances and drug developments to keep her well

What piece of kit would you like to see invented?

A device (or better still an app) to take an image of a printed sheet or finished pack. It then adjusts the image based on the way each viewer sees colour (I’m imagining some kind of live retina scan here), and the result displays an image of the print, having taken the viewer’s vision into account

Most embarrassing moment?

I once appeared on Catchphrase. The second I saw the episode, this became my most embarrassing moment

Where would you like to be now?

On my mountain bike, at the top of a big descent

Which superpower would you like to have?

Super healing power (see my greatest fear)

Who would be your favourite party guests?

Robert De Niro, Ant and Dec, Brian Moore and Kylie

What is the worst kind of print?

Poorly executed print that compromises either the construction or graphic design

Life is…?

Always changing, you have to learn to adapt and stay positive