Page 10 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2021

Leading Article
WA hen you’re tired of drupa...
mong his many utterances, Dr However, in the interests of bringing sample bags, the sound of the oompah-pah Johnson, the author of the first you the latest, I took myself into the band coming from the big beer tent in the definitive English language virtual drupa for a look around. Amazing. courtyard starting at 10.30 in the morning, dictionary in the 18th century, Over the four days there were 233 events, the smell of ink, the roar of machinery, rival
famously said, ‘when a man is tired of London, presentations, panel sessions and seminars exhibitors out blasting one another, the
he’s tired of life.’ I’ve been trading off the good doctor’s bon mot for many years. I pull it out whenever someone shrugs and raises their eyes to heaven resignedly when asked if they’re going to the next drupa. “When you’re tired of drupa, you’re tired of life,” I’d say, and mean it.
With six drupa visits under my belt starting in 1995, last year’s was supposed to be my swansong. The plan was for a table in Düsseldorf’s Alt Stadt, with friends, fellow journalists and other layabouts, getting stuck in to schweinshaxe (pork knuckles) and alt beer to pay off my debts for a life in printing journalism.
It wasn’t to be, the plague saw to that.
The drupa 2020 was cancelled, although the organisers hung out as long as they could before rescheduling for this year. That didn’t fly either, so they postponed it to 2024. Then they came up with a virtual drupa over four days in April.
I’m not a big fan of virtual anything. For instance, I’m not big on social media, Zoom conferences, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook or LinkedIn. I am big on print, do my reading from magazines and books. I like real
world printing trade exhibitions, especially drupa. I’m looking forward to PacPrint
in Melbourne in September, likely to be the world’s first major printing exhibition outside China in almost two years.
marshalling 356 industry professionals. At an average of 30 minutes each that equates to 116.5 hours, or five 24-hour days of quality information, all taking place in the virtual conference area or exhibition space.
The events kicked off at 8am on the
first day, with Daniel Liebermann, CEO, Nanografix, talking on a patented 3D hologram technology. It was bookended four days later with a Fiery-driven print room from Greg Cholmondeley, EFI. In between there was, and is, a virtual (sic) cornucopia of information on everything from Frank Romano’s take on the future of printing,
to Gareth Ward on the battles between analogue and digital, man versus machine.
I don’t suppose too many of us will sit through most of these presentations. I’m pretty sure not many of the presenters were actually in Düsseldorf. But if you’ve a printing challenge, it’s likely you’ll find the solution somewhere in there.
It’s not the same
But it’s not the same as a real live drupa, which is a fantastic, visceral, experience. There are the 14 to 16 huge exhibition and conference halls in the Messe crammed with printing equipment, long hot days, many thousands of printers from all over the world trudging across the forecourts laden with
sheer bloody enormous size of the thing. As a journalist it’s about racing between press conferences and interviews, searching out the newest technologies, and meeting up colleagues in the pressroom to learn what you’ve missed. “Have you seen the hologram stand in the Cube? Very interesting.”
Then at close of day there are the manufacturers’ events. Who will forget the Heidelberg circus tent, the Xerox metal foundry affair, the Scitex dance party in the obsolete Museum of Modern Art? Inevitably as the night wore on it’s down to the Alt Stadt, the heart of town with packed streets and restaurants, crowds of printers loose and lively, roisters and revellers spending their money, drinking like fiends, swaying up and down the cobbled streets, and all with great humour and fun. In all my time I never saw a scuffle, let alone a fight.
Over ten to 14 days you walked too much, talked too much, ate too much, worked too much, laughed and drank too much, stayed up far too late and got up far too early, before catching a plane out at the end of it all, ironed flat, without a wrinkle left in your psyche.
When you’re tired of drupa ...
Patrick Howard
— Editor-at-large
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