Features

Rising star: Ruby Marshall, apprentice designer, Paragon Customer Communications

Ruby is 19 and started her apprenticeship at Paragon CC’s Nottingham site in Sutton-in-Ashfield in June 2021.

Archer and Weaver:  “We make a fantastic team”
Cactus Graphics

Business inspection: Thriving and surviving

Planning the launch of a new business is challenging in any market at any time, but doing it while also coping with serious mental and physical illness takes it to another level.

Picking up the pieces

It’s sad when any business fails for there are countless personal stories entwinned with the corporate’s demise. But the failure of Arjowiggins, a firm that can trace its history back to 1761 and the...

Ensure your suppliers' eco credentials measure up

With sustainability back on the agenda and brands found to be greenwashing called out all over social media, being able to prove your eco claims is essential.

Protect yourself in tough times

The world is in trouble. Interest rates are rising, demand is down, energy is viciously expensive and there’s war in Ukraine.

Killer App: No room for Scilly errors

As the year draws to a close, most people will just now start thinking about replacing the calendar that by this point hangs on the wall from a precarious single page. Robert Sanger, however, has been...

60 seconds with Kingfisher Labels

The company was established in 1996 by managing director Martin Jackson with a three-colour Mark Andy label press.

Christmas gift guide: Prezzies for printers

Our selection of stocking fillers for the print-mad special someone in your life

Q&A: Giles Foden, managing director, Quantum Print & Packaging

Giles has been in the print and packaging game since 1989. He’s 55, married and has a daughter. His hobbies include tennis (Quantum is a sponsor of the ITF World Tennis Tour W100 tournament in...

60 seconds with Cotswold Letterpress 

After a career in print sales Pete Roberts started his own business hand-printing letterpress stationery, and slowly grew to become the town printer ending up with a five-colour litho press and all...

Rising star: Brandon Smith, HP digital printer and ABG finisher, Harkwell

The electrical trade’s loss is print’s gain. Brandon is 20 and has been working at Poole-based Harkwell, which specialises in labels and pouches for a wide range of customers, since the spring of...

Signs of the times

Founded 30 years ago, Metamark was a pioneer of self-adhesive plastics for sign and graphics use, initially for cutting plotters, then responding to the development of inkjet printing that still...

Nailing down the kilowatts 

Wrap up and prepare, there’s no doubt we’re all facing a hard winter, with industry hit as much as households by the rocketing price of gas, electricity and vehicle fuels. While the government...

Incorporate in haste and err at leisure

Company tax law can trip up many a business and its owners, especially when the rules around owning and running a company are not properly understood.

Porteous: “I can get hold of another one fairly easily if need be”
Taskforce

Business inspection: Old tech, new opportunity

Carving out a USP as a trade print finisher might not be the simplest of tasks but Edinburgh-based Taskforce inadvertently managed to do just that by having the open-mindedness to choose old...