Technik Looks Beyond Traditional Commercial Print with Its New HP Indigo Press 5500

HP has announced that Technik Ltd, of Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, UK, has installed an HP Indigo press 5500 to increase its capabilities and extend services beyond traditional commercial print.

Established in 1976 as a colour repro house, Technik built a reputation as a pioneer in digital colour reproduction using the latest top quality equipment to offer the first achromatic film production, high-end retouching and other prepress services.

Today, with its sister company, Connekt Colour, the company employs 52 people and offers digital printing, full digital studio photography, design and artwork for commercial print and packaging, as well as continuing to carry out colour retouching work. The company installed an HP Indigo press 5000 in 2007, and traded it for the versatile HP Indigo press 5500, with its ability to offer users superior colour reproduction on a wide variety of substrates, up to 350 gsm."We liked the superior colour reproduction of the 5500 press," said Terry Walker, founder and managing director, Technik Ltd. "It was important for us to be able to produce the highest quality digital print, and we also liked the new press's ability to run substrates up to 350 gsm.

"With digital printing, we're not just selling a product anymore; we're selling a concept," said Walker. "With third-party software, we can integrate our on-line presence and enable our customers to order or customize print in a seamless process: upload, quote, schedule, receive print.

"The capability of the HP Indigo press 5500 means that we can print products far beyond traditional commercial print. For example, we have tested printing cards for blister packs when digital printing can be used where shorter runs are required, like language versions, or special offers."

Two remarkable book printing jobs were won by Technik in early 2010. They drew on the company's expertise in repro and digital printing, as well as in project management.

The first was a limited edition volume called God's Cookbook, by Jamie d'Antioc, and published by The Arcadian Press. The 368-page book was printed on acid-free, wood-free book paper in a run of 250 number copies and 50 client copies. God's Cookbook won six awards, including the Gormand World Cookbook Award for "Best Cookbook in the World 2010."

The second volume undertaken by Technik was even more challenging. A Description of the Villa at Strawberry-Hill was a facsimile edition of the 1784 ("extra-illustrated") work by Horace Walpole, author and son of the prime minister, Robert Walpole. The book was published for the Roxburghe Club by former cabinet minister, William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, PC. Lord Waldegrave owns one of the six original volumes, and an ancestor once owned the famous property.

"The book comprised 328 digitally printed quarto pages and 160 pages printed letterpress, so the book combines the newest and oldest printing technologies," said Walker.

Forty-two copies of the book were printed and bound, half calf, for members of the Roxburghe Club and its library. A further 200 copies were bound quarter morocco and buckram for sale through select antiquarian book dealers.

"Short-runs and specialty publishing are now more possible with digital printing," said Walker. "It's wrong to think that digital is attacking the printing industry. Digital printing is using the market in a way that's not been utilized before. It's a wide and varied market, and digital has created a whole new potential for print."