Tony Palmer has been out on his travels again, this time to Portugal where he visited the KTK and Ascograf factories and was humbled by the expertise of the printers he visited and the sheer quality of the spectacular screen prints they were producing
A fact-finding mission to Portugal provided an opportunity to catch up with an old friend…
True to form, the trip to the airport cost more than the flight to Porto! With a flight cost of £22 I thought I had a bargain – but then I was reminded of all the extras like luggage, tax and an additional charge if you want to breathe the airplane air…
Landing in Porto, it was a quick drive north to the little town of Barcelos. The national emblem of this area is a massive cock. The story is that a local rogue declared his innocence by stating that a roast bird would crow if he was hanged. He was and it did!
KTK
While in Portugal I had the opportunity to visit the KTK screen print machinery factory – the guys there offered me a great tour of the huge, modern facility.
Over the road from the factory was a print shop that boasted six automatic machines of both oval and carousel build. The prints I saw at this shop were spectacular.
It is fair to say that I have been printing for a long time, and I have been fortunate to witness every level of competence in textile screen printing. The level of expertise that I saw at this print shop in Portugal, however, was humbling.
The clients were all world-renowned designers, and the prints sell for triple digit figures easily. This high price was reflected in the supreme quality of the prints I saw coming off these presses. With plenty of staff and zero pressure on the quantity produced, the results were breathtaking.
An employee would inspect the on-press registration with a loupe while the press was running; this inspection was on 100% of the production. The old triangle of cheap-fast-good held up here: you can only pick two!
I was lucky enough to visit another three factories, all of which were producing work of easily the highest quality I have ever seen! Who would have thought this little corner of Portugal could contain such a high concentration of printers; think Leicester but on steroids!
The emblem of Barcelos…
Wolfing down pastel de nata and guzzling the local port – well somebody had to…
Acosgraf
After having my eyes opened in Barcelos I made my way south to catch up with a fellow travelling companion, Ricardo from Acosgraf. He and I often meet up around the world for a cheeky beer and a gossip – when we start drinking Palomas it gets really messy.
This time I was treated to a VIP tour of the Acosgraf manufacturing facility in Canelas, just south of the wonderfully historic port of Porto and its magnificent bridges. The plant was alive with fabrication, with machinery being created at every point.
The wonders of the old historic port had me promising to return: the history of the waterfront and the rich heritage of port and wine had my head swimming – or maybe that was the delicious mix of pastel de nata (a delicious sweet pastry) and the sweet, rich, white port from Douro.
Tony Palmer has been in the garment decoration industry for over 30 years and is now an independent print consultant working closely with print shops across the globe to get the most from existing processes and techniques. He also co-hosts the popular screen printing podcast Chippy Tee! with Danny Donald of Flippin Sweet Print Co.
