DESTINATION – Travelling the World for the Printing Industry by Bernhard Grob
Printing professional Bernhard Grob shares his stories and memories of travelling the world as a print executive for over 30 years in his book “DESTINATION – Travelling the World for the Printing Industry”. While it was initially planned to print the book live at drupa 2020, you can now get your own copy by donating to support young people starting out in the Graphic Arts industry.
Even though our virtual.drupa event was a full success, there are a few things we had planned for drupa 2020 that just couldn’t be transferred to a virtual event. So sadly, there are some amazing projects you missed out on. One of these projects is the printing event of Bernhard Grob’s book “DESTINATION – Travelling the World for the Printing Industry”, which was planned to be printed live and launched as a special event during our drupa expo at Messe Düsseldorf. Now, his partnering companies Xeikon and Müller Martini produced the book at their locations in Belgium, France and Switzerland to be released right after virtual.drupa.
The Travelling Professional
Since moving to the United Kingdom in 1987, author and printing professional Bernhard Grob has spent his entire working life as a co-owner and Managing Director of the company Edale Ltd. Having dual Swiss and British nationality, Grob initially spent an equal number of years in both countries in his earlier life. In his book “DESTINATION – Travelling the World for the Printing Industry”, he now shares his adventures traveling further, visiting 60 countries on all continents from his personal travel journals written over 30 years.
Living the drupa Spirit
Even though the book is intended for light-hearted, easy reading, Bernhard Grob also compiled the technical aspects of the printing sector in a beautiful way, focussing mainly on flexographic printing as used label, packaging and commercial security printers but also including historical, political, social and cultural aspects as well as personal experiences and memories. It truly is a collection of tales from the life of a real print enthusiast, written for other people all around the globe that “live and breath” print.
As a well-connected printing professional with years of experience and gathered expertise in his field, Grob of course got some of his colleagues to contribute articles as well: well-known industry figures of the narrow web industry from several countries chimed in to give a wider view on the ‘Golden Years’ of the industry from their individual perspective. The list of his contributors include, for example, Michael Fairley and Andy Thomas from L&L, Paul Jarvis, former Jarvis Porter Group, Jules Lejeune from Finat and Ferdinand Rüesch from Gallus.
The book was designed in collaboration with the Department Typography and Graphic Communication of University of Reading, England, printed by Xeikon in Belgium and France on their SIRIUS and CX500 digital presses and finished by Mueller Martini in Switzerland on their SigmaLine. So one could say that not only Bernhard Grob himself lived his life with the true drupa spirit but his book is a product of the printing industry getting together and taking advantage of our industry’s synergies and joint efforts as well!
Supporting the Future of the Graphic Arts Industry
Right now, the book is not for sale officially but interested readers can receive a copy by making a donation instead. With these donations, Bernhard Grob intends to support young people starting out in the Graphic Arts industry, giving mainly to the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication of the University of Reading. So don’t hesitate to reach out to him directly and get your copy for a great read and giving to the future of Graphic Art and Design.
Do you have any stories from your years living and working as a printing professional as well? We are looking forward to hearing them in the comment section!
