Learning the trade
With the world of work constantly changing, many individuals looking at potential careers may find themselves spoilt for choice, or simply worried about the uncertainty of specific roles.
In our digital age, many industries and sectors have completely changed, with new challenges such as the threats of pandemics, automation, and altered public habits.
The print industry is one that is constantly evolving and in need of fresh blood to keep it relevant in the modern age.
With historical, physical, and digital components, the sector can offer a lot in regards to rewarding career options, with many appealing areas. The industry can make use and build on many skills and talents, offering roles that can appeal to creatives, organisers, engineers, and businesspeople.
While apprenticeships may be the clear avenue to take, there are still many entry points into the industry that can either help people enter the workplace, or switch career paths.
Starting out
Many in the print industry may have found themselves there from family legacy, previous opportunities, or simply coincidence. However, with focuses on recruitment and workplace wellbeing, it’s important for us to think how we entice new blood into the right roles and give workers the correct stepping stones into the industry.
Stafford-based, The Vinyl Guys, is an example of a company that has entered the industry through unconventional means, thanks to passion and experimentation.
Despite already having a career in the police, founder Alex Liggett started a side business selling printed graphics for motorsports before investing in a wide-format printer.
Though Liggett’s entry to the industry may be unconventional, it still demonstrates how an outside hobby or interest can develop into something more.
Feeling there was a lack of education and support for people in Liggett’s situation, The Vinyl Guys opened its Print Business Growth Centre which offers workshops and information for those starting off in print and graphics.
The Vinyl Guys has offered training sessions since September 2021 in its purpose built training space in Stafford
Like Liggett’s workshops, many print classes and workshops take place throughout the UK, especially within the arts and crafts sector.
One such location is Bristol Print Room, a provider of short courses and workshops in intaglio and relief printmaking.
Founder and tutor of the Print Room, Steph Renshaw, says: “I teach people from all backgrounds from those who are complete beginners to people who are professional artists wanting to learn a new skill or hone what they already know.”
Speaking about the accessibility of print, Renshaw adds: “I teach in small groups, and I make every effort for the courses to be accessible and encouraging. A lot of my students are new to printmaking or are coming back to art after years of not doing any which can be really daunting.
“I think the small friendly and informal setting really helps to get the best out of people. I also like to show people how broad printmaking is as a medium. I teach etching, linocut, collagraph, drypoint and mono printing and can show them what all of these terms mean, therefore demystifying the practices.
Bristol Print Room offers classes in linocut, collagraph, drypoint and etching processes
“I want courses with me to be a springboard for people to see the potential of using different methods for their own creative projects.” A large component of the accessibility of different sectors, can be determined by location.
In the UK and the world, certain areas may offer more classes or courses, simply because that area has a richer history in said discipline.
Renshaw says: “Once you’re involved with print you see that there are really exciting print-related projects going on all over the world. I don’t know if any place is better than another per-say. But what I love about Bristol is that there are all sorts of creative projects happening throughout the city.
“When I moved here, I was amazed at the number of art studios, galleries, and courses. This city has kept me inspired and kept my art-making alive.”
Steph Renshaw taught herself printmaking and took local courses before teaching others
The community and relationships created by classes and workshops can clearly help to encourage and fuel the printers of the future.
“Lots of my students return for more classes or send photos of work they have done since working with me, which I love to see,” says Renshaw.
“Some students are already working with print, often using digital techniques for graphic design. They come to a course with me to see how the process began, to see what the ‘analogue’ version of it is. This can often re-inspire them with their own work or see how the different methods can complement each other.”
The next step
Entry points can often prove how many avenues and areas use print. Like many sectors, the print industry can be a gateway or way of experiencing a career in a way not previously considered.
Just as an industry such as film and TV production can offer opportunities in design, catering, and sales, print can provide work for those with skills in fashion, production, and customer service.
“The surface pattern and textile design industry covers many areas including fashion homewares and stationery,” says Elly Cooke, textile and surface pattern design tutor at Bristol Folk House.
“It is a fast paced world with many opportunities and avenues for making a career either as a printmaker producing bespoke fabrics and giftware items, or as a digital designer providing artwork for factories that produce fabrics, accessories, home furnishings, and stationery items.”
In the same vein as Bristol Print Room, Bristol Folk House provides a variety of day and evening courses for over 18’s to learn new skills and explore their creativity.
The education centre also houses a café, social area, and event space, making it a hub for the community to learn and collaborate.
Cooke adds: “In the classes I have taught, there have been a range of students, some looking to try printmaking for fun and others looking to build on skills they already have.
“With this in mind, I provide an introduction into a range of processes that can generate material for printing directly onto products or further developed digitally.”
Bristol Folk House demonstrates the ways in which the public can be exposed to new disciplines and supported while doing so.
“I see students develop confidence with practical printmaking techniques, that when combined with simple repeat pattern making theory, produce some amazing and truly unique designs,” says Cooke.
“Once learned, these skills can be expanded and with practice used to develop hand made products for personal use or even as collections for sale. The course is open to those with little or no experience, or those that are interested in taking their established printmaking practices onto textiles.”
One way to also gain experience with print and different disciplines used in the manufacturing, retail, and service sectors can be through courses offered at universities.
The University of the West of England (UWE), based in Bristol is one such university offering a variety of different courses including Printmaking.
Programme Leader for MA Multidisciplinary Printmaking at UWE, Sarah Bodman, says: “The university includes professional practice and careers and enterprise training within all its courses for undergraduates and postgraduates. For example, an enterprise scheme that runs over the summer has seen students successfully apply for funding to run their own businesses or to set up a printing service or small print studio.”
Kate Holland leads free decorative techniques workshops at UWE Bristol, sponsored by Designer Bookbinders and The Printing Charity
As embedded institutions in the UK that attract students from all over the globe, universities have grown and evolved to offer practical and modern life skills that can be carried into many careers.
“There is a clear path for graduates who are passionate about print. Our graduates are often involved in the wider print industry through jobs as master printers or technicians and educators in print studios via colleges and schools,” says Bodman.
“Many go on to create their own print studios specialising in printing editions for artists. Specialising in building strong skills and knowledge along with building professional connections is the best path for graduates.”
While university may seem like a more traditional or conventional route, Bodman emphasises the skills, knowledge, and confidence courses can provide which will then aid graduates when entering the world of work, even through unconventional means.
Bodman stresses: “If you are passionate about print then immerse yourself in any aspect of it and don’t be afraid to set up by yourself. Careers are changing and community fundraising is a much more achievable route to establishing a studio.
If you are passionate about print then immerse yourself in any aspect of it and don’t be afraid to set up by yourself”
“Print is often taught in schools so students have a good idea of what can be built upon for an undergraduate course, before specialising in a Masters.
“We also have quite a few students doing funded print-based PhDs exploring subjects from using new technologies to reinvigorate historical print processes to looking at new ways of working with textiles or robotic technologies.”
Opening the door
While apprenticeships are often the backbone of gaining experience in the industry, independent work and new funding opportunities have been proven to provide fantastic ways to enter the print space.
This is evident through success stories like those of Alex Liggett and Steph Renshaw, both of which started their projects through education and experience.
Cooke says: “Degrees in both fine art printmaking and textile design are available as a more straightforward way in, but I have found a focused approach to building a portfolio and developing clients is important too.”
Though many classes and courses may reflect the creative side of the industry, Bodman states the procurement of skills and collaboration are the most important. She says: “Obviously manufacturing/industrial print as a business or career is very different to fine art or graphic arts-based printmaking. But that doesn’t mean they are separate to each other.
“At our research centre we work with industrial partners in trialling or using products or processes in a different way that they might not have the time to spend testing or might not have thought of using them in a particular way that artists or designers might. There are plenty of crossovers, and artists have often picked up industrial processes and used them in new non-industrial ways.
“It’s good that there are both aspects to print and they can feed off each other, and that careers can be built in separate or overlapping areas of print.”
New funding opportunities and schemes now mean that individuals can access the best of education and work-based placements. Areas like surface design, videography/photography, and textiles have been examples of sectors that provide a wide range of opportunities and gateways into new careers.
Supplier of equipment and materials to the digital wide-format industry, CMYUK, is one company that puts a large prominence on enhancing customer service and training.
The company has used the government Kickstart scheme within the last year to take on several young starters in different divisions. The scheme was created to give young graduates entry level positions into respected companies, along with funding for employers to take on new talent.
CMYUK has also recently started its Creatives in Residence Live (CIRL) programme, which gives three surface design graduates and one videographer the opportunity to partake in a six-month mentoring and learning curriculum for the digital textile industry.
Robin East, group sales and marketing director at CMYUK, says: “We are delivering a six-month curriculum that bridges the transition between education and the commercial workplace to nurture talented young people who are hoping to establish a career in the digital textile industry.”
Robin East has seen a lot of success stories at CMYUK with support from print partners like Canon and Epson
East adds: “We’re working with a specialist recruitment consultancy to help place these talented young people in jobs. They will now have an enhanced CV that demonstrates greater technical skills and commercial experience.
After undertaking a two-year apprenticeship scheme in the past, CMYUK employed Harry Norton who the company describes as “an absolute superstar in the business”.
However, East admits that in many ways the scheme did not always work for them: “Educationally-speaking, we found the apprenticeship scheme underwhelming. I’d say that 50% of the curriculum content was irrelevant, outdated and detached from everyday working reality.”
Though many courses and workshops have been carved out and highlight the efforts made by individuals in the industry, in many ways they are still hard to come by.
It is due to this that companies like The Vinyl Guys and CMYUK have undertaken extra steps to help those looking to expand their career prospects.
East adds: “The number of colleges offering qualifications for print has diminished. “We used the Kickstart scheme as the basis of our own internship programme. If the government supported paid salaries for individuals, then companies would offer more internships and develop worthwhile career development programmes and engage young people in live projects.”
Although the Kickstart scheme has been a great steppingstone for graduates in the industry, its restriction of funding for jobs for only 16- to 24-year-olds limits the talent pool.
Many of these positions are not guaranteed to continue, and many companies are not given the necessary information or backing to truly diversify the UK’s many thriving sectors.
“One of the things I hate is the lack of support for graduates, the young people who have borrowed money to commit to further education. This demographic doesn’t receive any government allocated funds for internship or apprenticeship programmes,” says East.
“Why doesn’t the government give businesses an incentive to recruit graduates on work programmes that support the transition between education and employment within their chosen careers? This would raise skills, give graduates accurate and useful insights into the world of work, and create a much fairer system because right now, it’s only the wealthier kids that can afford to be interns.”
Why doesn’t the government give businesses an incentive to recruit graduates on work programmes that support the transition between education and employment within their chosen careers?”
Though the challenges of attracting diverse voices and new blood into the industry is ever prevalent, the work of CMYUK, UWE, Bristol Print House, The Vinyl Guys, and Bristol Folk House prove there are businesses out there trying to make big changes.
O Factoid: Graduate career service, Prospects states that a role as a print production planner can initially pay between £20,000 and £25,000. O
Thankfully like many sectors, there are many opportunities and entry points available throughout the country, and - thanks to our digital age - the world.
By offering training schemes, classes, and workshops, companies can attract new business, talent, and ideas that they may have not received before.
There is still a lot of work to do in recruitment and supporting graduates, but if print businesses can lead the way and get ahead of the government, hopefully together we can create a truly futureproofed industry.
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