Wellington’s Printlink has won Pride In Print Supreme Award for 2019.
Katherine Williams, general manager of Printlink, accepted the award at the industry’s gala evening, which took place on Friday at the TSB Arena in Wellington.
She says, “It is amazing to get the recognition for my awesome team at team at Printlink. We have around 108 people at Printlink and although wide format is only a small part of our team overall, it is an area where we have really grown.”
Printlink has supported Pride In Print for many years and Williams the team feels ecstatic that it has broken through to win the supreme award. She says, “We have been up there a few times for the final and we have always been the bridesmaid and never the bride but tonight is different. There was a perception that we, as a former government printer, couldn’t produce this kind of award winning work but that has changed.”
Pride In Print Judges describe the supreme award winner as a piece of art work that should hang on a gallery wall. The three wooden panels entered under Limited Edition & Fine Arts Category, and under the Innovation in Specialty Products Category, invited a close inspection from Pride In Print judges because, even close up, the panels have the appearance of actual Maori carvings.
Printed on a Screen Truepress WS3200 UV wide format printer,
The 3D effect of the print on a flat surface worked so well that a number of judges took the time to rub their hands across the surface of the panels to assure themselves that their own eyes actually had played tricks on them. Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children commissioned Printlink to complete the work, which now hangs in its offices in Parliament buildings.
Printlink received a photograph of each original carving to work from and originally asked to produce a print on cloth stretched over a frame. The carvings were done by inmates of Hastings Prison, in solidarity with the theme of reducing family violence and improving family environments.
John Harrison, commercial manager at Printlink, says, “We had a suggestion that, because of the quality and meaning of the original carvings, they felt they should create something which would do the theme more justice and better replicate the 3D nature of the originals.
“It took countless alterations to print files and re-trialling efforts on the press to produce the panels.”
Pride In Print judge Wayne Romminger says the pieces should now hang in a gallery somewhere with a big price tag on them, but they were simply three pieces of plywood. He says, “This is as Kiwi as. It is just like a sheet of plywood that you’d purchase at your local timber shop, but it has been turned into a beautiful thing.”
Williams adds, “David Turner, who printed the award winning piece, has a such a strong passion for what he does. He just gets so excited about coming to work. He comes in to work and plays with the machine and tries new things out. There was something different about this job; a special opportunity. We had the chance to make it something special; David knew this was going to become something special.
”We have a copy of the piece hanging on the wall at work and customers are automatically drawn to the piece. They can’t believe it is not carved.
“It was a really special piece for the customer as well.”
