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OPEN HOUSE: LIA HOSTS TOUR OF CARBON8'S FACILITY
LIA hosts tour of Carbon8’s facility
During the recent tour, attendees saw the unique printing capabilities of the champion in craft and learned more about how the company operates
LIA New South Wales recently took industry professionals on a tour of Carbon8’s multi-service print and binding facility in Marrickville.
During the tour, attendees saw the unique printing capabilities of the champion in craft, and learned how the company won five gold and two silver medals, including gold for Digital Printer of the Year, at the 39th annual National Print Awards.
Carbon8 co-founder Peter Musarra said the company was born 15 years ago when digital was just starting to take off. Together with Carbon8’s other co-founder Kenneth Beck-Pedersen, Musarra saw opportunity in this space and the business became an early adopter of HP Indigo.
“It meant we could produce something on a variety of stocks for the creatives, the agencies, the marketing departments, the photographers, the people that wanted it to be as good as litho could be, we got about as close as we could get,” he said.
“We do the best we can and we’ve got a loyal following. There are not that many people in the country that do what we do.”
Beneath its solar panel-filled roof and drawing 100 per cent renewable energy from the grid, Carbon8 runs the recently upgraded HP Indigo 15K HD B2 press as its flagship sheet-fed press.
Along with its main workhorse, the HP Indigo 15K HD, other machines and processes the company utilises include: the HP Indigo 7900; celloglazing and digital foiling; saddle stitching, sectionsewing, PUR, and oversewing; the Harris & Bruno anilox coater (UV and Aqueous); the swissQprint LED UV flatbed inkjet; the Epson solvent and aqueous inkjet; the HP Latex inkjet; the Zünd cutting table, case-making; and laser cutting.
Beck-Pedersen said Carbon8’s core business is now higher end, short- to medium-run, bespoke marketing collateral as these clients value how much it costs to make what they’re making. He added that with the industry coalescing more, there has been more consolidation, resulting in a better outcome for the business as it operates all under one roof.
Musarra mentioned that Carbon8 will continue to bank on the huge demand for tactile, beautiful prints.
“We’re very busy at the moment. It’s fantastic. We do have our own challenges, but our plan is to continue to market and tell more people about what we do with print, because there is opportunity,” he said.
Attendees also learnt more about the history of Carbon8’s facility, which was the former site of traditional offset printer Blake and Hargreaves.
“There’s a lot of history in this building and we hope that we’re giving it a new lease on life and allowing people to still have the best of old-world print with modern technology,” Beck-Pedersen said.
