PRIDE IN PRINT: MASTERY OF PROCESS

Pride In Print Awards honours mastery of process

Industry celebrates print processes and those who have mastered them

This year’s Pride In Print Awards saw eight of the industry’s best printers acknowledged for producing the highest quality work across a wide range of techniques and processes.

Dual winners

Pride In Print celebrated two dual category/process winners this year.

Horton Media claimed the Coldset Process Award and the Newspapers Category for Rare and Unrivalled Beauty, which you can read about on page 24.

Onstage representing the Process Winners at Pride In Print, from left: Andrew Young, Gravure Packaging; Mandy Nilsson, Blue Star Constellation; Maree Roan, Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific Christchurch; Trevor Hannam, Horton Media; David Cruickshank, Ovato New Zealand; Nel Becroft, Newton Cutting (with Logick Print); Terry Brown, Blue Star Collard; Cyril Southan, Reaction Screenprint

Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific Christchurch took out the Flexographic Process Award and the Flexible Packaging Category for Freya’s Gluten Free Mixed Seed Soft Wraps. The story features on page 20.

Digital Process Winner

Blue Star Constellation representative Emma Selwood said the team strove to produce Koa Brochure at a standard that would live up to the mission statement of developer, Ockham Residential.

She said, “We were inspired by the client’s aim ‘to make beautiful buildings that people love to live in, homes that honour this dynamic Pacific city, stand the test of time, inspire others, and bring an awesome Auckland lifestyle to as many people and communities as we can’.

Digital Process Winner Koa Brochure for Blue Star Constellation

“Koa Brochure is a beautifully designed and printed stitched booklet, showcasing stylish homes and architecture. Digitally printing the booklet on the HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press on a high quality, bright white and smooth stock made the images pop and provided a sleek and smooth finish.

“The cover was printed on 300gsm Arcoprint and the text on 150gsm Arcoprint. Embossing the cover enhanced the high-end quality finish and provided a tactile finish.

“The finishing was completed through a Horizon stitcher; text as four-page sections and the cover pre-creased and cover fed. The booklet was completed with a clean and square finish.”

Heatset Process Winner

Ovato New Zealand’s Craig Harrison described Whitcoulls Recommends as a “challenging catalogue”, given it required multiple line-ups across pages, was printed at high speed and encompassed artwork layout requiring precise registration.

He said, “The job was finished in line on the press which required all settings of the web, colour and again register to be exact so that when it reached the stitching and trimming process in the last stage, the catalogue was all aligned and the print looked perfect.

Heatset Process Winner Whitcoulls Recommends from Ovato New Zealand

“Whitcoulls was a larger-format product and was produced at 75,000 copies per hour on one of the fastest and largest presses in the country.

“We pride ourselves on the skill set of our printers to achieve these high standards, resulting in the awards we receive. We are very proud of our results.”

Offset Process Winner

Blue Star Collard representative Emma Selwood said in Moana Annual Report, Moana New Zealand sought a document that would reflect its core values of “diversity, innovation and unity” as well as a “unique cultural story”.

She said, “Moana New Zealand is a wholly Iwi-owned seafood provider – their main focus being to provide high-quality kaimoana to the New Zealand market in a sustainable way.

Offset Process Winner Moana Annual Report from Blue Star Collard

“The document was 128 pages plus covers on 300gsm satin with text on 150gsm and PUR bound to provide the quality and sustainability requirements specified by the client.”

“The spot colour PMS 5455 was used extensively throughout to subtly reflect the business’s relationship to the sea. The CMYK images were all reproduced using Huber Pacifica mineral oil-free inks.

“The cover was laminated using an antiscuff matt, with a modern interpretation of traditional Māori design used extensively throughout the text and highlighted on the cover using a pearlescent white foil.

“All of the key elements of this job came together perfectly, reflecting the client’s identity and values.”

Gravure Process Winner

Gravure Packaging’s Grant Amelung described SPC Provital as “world-class”.

He said, “Our company is the only company in New Zealand and Australia that can manufacture this type of shrink sleeve label. The shrink sleeve is one important part of the overall packaging format, which allows those with weakened hand grip, and other conditions, to use the packaging.”

Gravure Process Winner SPC Provital from Gravure Packaging

He believes the technicalities of the shrink sleeve and its interactions with the container are distinctive features for the healthcare market serviced by the client. He said, “Our product is designed specially to be exported to match the demands of high-demand technical customers. SPC is such a client, based in Australia.

“The shrink sleeve product is special due to the technicalities of the film itself, its ability to communicate in high-definition print to visually-impaired patients and its ability to work with the container reliably, on a very high-speed production line.

“These points are unique to this product and because no other manufacturer in Australasia can create such a complex product, we can be proud that such a unique and high-quality product is made in New Zealand by Gravure Packaging.”

Letterpress Process Winner

Pride In Print judges described Logick Print’s Special Edition 2022 Calendar as a masterful example of printing technique.

Letterpress Process Winner Special Edition 2022 Calendar from Logick Print

They said, “A clever design, delivered over three embossing passes and five different coloured foils laid down in perfect register, has produced an outstanding and eye-catching holographic result.

“They have got each pass to align exactly and then performed the embossing as close to perfect as you could want. There is a lot of foil in a small space, so a lot of pressure to transfer correctly, yet they’ve delivered everything in outstanding fashion.”

Screenprint Process Winner

Reaction Screenprint’s Peter Grant said the production of Wanaka Island marked a triumph of skill and determination over numerous and significant challenges.

He said, “There were many emails, many couriers down to Wanaka with stock samples, colour pulls all mixed by hand sent for approval, matting down the inks to suit. I did hear the words ‘Trust us, we will get it right’ used at one stage.

“There were stock delays due to Covid, a trip to Auckland to pick up some stock. This stock had been purchased by our client, coming from all over New Zealand in different deliveries.

“Our screenprinter, Cyril Southan, one of the best in Australasia and beyond, was pulling what little hair he has left out about the stock being so porous he could see issues, particularly given the temperature fluctuation in the building from which we operate.

“Then bam! It all came together. It took a lot more time that we ever imagined, but what a result!”

Screenprint Process Winner Wanaka Island from Reaction Screenprint

Client Fran Shaw from White Light Studio praised Reaction Screenprint in helping fill a “gap” in the New Zealand art print world by expertly utilising screenprint to produce unique art prints.

She said, “We wanted these to be special, something that had been lovingly crafted for our buyers to hang on their wall and admire. But we also soon realised what a dying art form screenprint is.”

After many emails and phone calls “all across the country”, she said the connection was finally made with Reaction Screenprint. She recalled, “They were passionate, knowledgeable and very open minded about doing something a little out of their comfort zone. We soon created a close working relationship which allowed us to work through many of the hurdles that were unexpectedly thrown at us, the classic Christmas deadline and the lack of paper within the country due to Covid.

“All the ups and downs were totally worth it when we finally received our package. The outcome was bright and impactful, with the beautiful tactile feel of the ink on the textured paper.

“We are so happy that we went down the screenprinting route, the process might be a lot more involved than shooting off some digital prints, but in our eyes totally worth it. We hope that our customers will feel the same.”