Over 35 years ago I started working in the graphic arts community as a painter, sculptor, graphic designer and photographer. One of my favourite parts of the process was working with and mixing colours for palettes in silkscreen and painting. Matching colours was difficult, yet somewhat rewarding. Upon the introduction of the computer, working with colour became much more approachable, yet printing exact colour was still a hit or miss process (process offset) unless working in spot colours. After years of working as an art director in a busy design shop, I was intrigued by what the digital camera was bringing into the art and design scene and wanted to learn more about this fast growing aspect of digital design and print. When the first digital camera came onto the scene, I was lucky to get my hands one of the first commercial digital cameras (Kodak). I had many artists friends who were interested in having their works photographed for shows, marketing and portfolios. I found that it was one of the most difficult things to do, as lighting, reflection and resolution were often difficult to control. In the early 2000’s I was given the opportunity to work as a colour eye for a large west coast fine art reproduction business that provided artists, galleries and gift shops with open and closed edition printing and design services. I was shocked that most of the staff working at offset and digital print shops had little or no experience working with art, colour or any formal training in colour space, colour theory or hands on understanding of how to calibrate and adjust digital files for reproduction. The industry was self taught but few artists worked in this field. I had by chance stumbled upon this knowledge (or lack of) and found that putting my 25 years of working with art, artists and printshops was a natural road to follow.

In 2008, I started Art Ink Print and was extremely well received by artists and the arts community who were looking for a print shop that respected and could fulfill complicated colour requirements with-out having to go outside the community or put down tens of thousands of dollars to secure colour professionals for often short run print jobs (what most artist are looking for). The model for the business was providing what I now call “colour brokering” to artists who mostly, had no understanding of the complicated fine art print process. We could offer capture (photography), scanning services using colour tagging and profiling to manage colour right from the start, all the way through design and the final printing processes with colour precision, accuracy and attention to detail. Most of the work we produce here is re-sold (open and limited edition printing), so the consistency and quality need to be the very best.