Gutenberg Beuys Feindruckerei: A Print Shop "Made with Love"

They are a committed team. They love the craft of printing and celebrate it as a feast of the senses: the print shop "Gutenberg Beuys Feindruckerei" in Hanover, Germany. Their name is unusual, as is this company's demand for quality. Owner Matthias Hake explains why he prefers to swim against the tide and why exactly this wins customers.

Mr. Hake, your customer magazine "Rasterpunkt" ("Screen Dot") was a complete success. The first issue not only brought home several prizes but sold out entirely. How do you explain this response?
Hake: We love the craft of printing and take a completely unprejudiced attitude to things where others say, "That won't work, or that'll cause problems." We print all of our products by default with a 120 screen and high pigment inks. With our customer magazine, we had the freedom to try things out and create something special.

In keeping with your company's name, do you consider printing to be as much a work of art as a business?
Hake: (laughs). Now and then, I enjoy calculating a few things, too. In all seriousness: we created our customer magazine as a present to ourselves. In order to produce a constant flow of new optical and haptic experiences, we intentionally printed the first issue's 136 five-color pages on the most varied types of paper - coated, glossy, matte and natural. In addition, we then added little "treats" throughout - with cut-outs, embossing, coatings, and spills. On one left-hand page, we printed uncoated paper with goldfish and let the motif spill harmoniously onto a transparent sheet on the right side. We bound our creation as a Swiss brochure with a 1.1 pound/10.8 square feet (500 g/sq.m.) cover. In the end, the whole thing weighed almost 2.2 pounds (1 kg) and was sent in an artificial fur envelope that was sewn especially for it.

How did the recipients react?
Hake: They were enthusiastic. We even received mail from Italy, Austria and Switzerland. We didn't expect that kind of a flood of feedback which also won us quite a few new customers, of course.  

Have you hit upon a market gap?
Hake: It looks like it. When people hold our print products in their hands, they notice the difference to the other print shops. We pursue printing as an art in the original sense of the word - hence the company's name, Gutenberg Beuys Feindruckerei. Beuys is a late German artist known for producing sensory experiences. Our philosophy is to give a print product the icing on the cake by being creative and perfecting the printing process and not giving up before we've done this.

Mr. Hake, don't customers prefer to stay away from such unconventional projects because they are riskier and more expensive?
Hake: No. There are always competitors who are cheaper. We don't get involved in price battles though. We have enough customers who know that we're somewhat more expensive than others and nevertheless consciously choose us because they value our work. Usually after a certain amount of time, a market adjustment takes place on its own because print shops that focus only on price always disappear from the market in the mid-term. Last but not least, I'm convinced that with digital technology and the Internet, the number of standard print products will decline. The task for print shops in the future increasingly will be to add accents and extras. So, let's welcome new ideas!

And how do you convince critical customers?
Hake: With our products which speak for themselves. We won the company Pott, a silverware manufacturer, with the first issue of our customer magazine. For our first order, a silverware catalogue, we advised the customer to print the dark pictures on 4 ounce/10.8 square feet (120 g/sq. m.) wood-free, uncoated fine paper (natural paper Tauro) with a 120 screen because of the fascinating impression the images make as well as the feel. The customer was skeptical at first, but then the press proofs convinced him after all. And, there was a big celebration when the catalogue won the M-Real Printers Award in 2006.

How do you handle this abundance of the very diverse jobs?
Hake: Last year we switched from a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74-5L to a CD 102-6LX. Even operating in three shifts, we weren't able to keep up and so we expanded the capacity. With the Speedmaster CD 102, we're able to achieve our demand for quality. Usually we print in five-color, but sometimes also with six or seven colors, and with printing stock ranging from very thin to the maximum thickness. Even the technicians from Heidelberg are often amazed at the type of printing stock that we test - such as very thin films or transparent paper. On top of that, we also added a Varimatrix CS 105. If the quality isn't right, I get angry. I lose interest in the product. That's why we now die cut and strip the products ourselves.

What is your key secret for seduction?
Hake: Clearly our interest and creativity as well as our open interaction with one another. We don't have any kind of hierarchy. What matters is that we enjoy the work. I'm always interested in things we've never done before and that are difficult to pull off. That helps us compete and advance. At the same time, the diverse and challenging jobs keep us from getting bored because they always require complete dedication. I built up the business in 1999 with four long-term unemployed people, none of whom were trained in printing. But they were full of ideas and the need to create. It worked out so well that our team has now grown to 26. I think when enough love and attention has been put into a project then this passion radiates from the finished product. And, you see it. Here everything is "made with love!"

Thank you for the conversation!

Sample inner pages:
Paper left page: 135 gsm GardaPat 13 KIARA; Paper right page: 112 gsm Curious Translucents Flexi (Arjo Wiggins); Effect: A perfectly sitting spill from normal onto transparent paper.