Printwell Design

1987 - 1995

History

Printwell Co-operative rose from the ashes of the legendary Dublin Resource Centre in Crow Street, Temple Bar, where everything was well, well … There was Well Red Bookshop, Well Fed Café and so there had to be a Print Well and so there was…

1987

In November 1987, Just as the yuppies and developers moved in, Printwell Co-operative moved out of Temple Bar and across the river into a vacant warehouse in North Richmond Industrial Estate. There was now room for a 2 colour SRA2 litho press, a darkroom, a design area and office accommodation. The fondly remembered Jerry Flynn, recently returned from Nicaragua, set up the printing operation. Printwell Co-op owe a great deal to Jerry and we hope some of his spirt, generosity and idealism lives on.

1995 - 2004

However by 1995 Printwell were on the move again to premises around the corner at 10-11 North Richmond Street. Here an Agfa Imagesetter was purchased giving us complete control over the printing process from client brief to printed sheet. A contract had been won with IMPACT to produce their monthly newsletter, IMPACT News. This was re-designed along contemporary lines by Cormac O’Hanrahan.

In order to keep up with developments in technology a digital press was purchased in 2004 and further upgraded in 2006. This has allowed us to develop our short-run colour capacity and helped us to meet the demanding requirements of our clients.

2012 - 2013

2012

By mid year it became clear that the volume of trade had decreased alarmingly and that unless we could achieve major cost savings there would be no future for the co-op. We entered into discussions with our landlord, the GAA, in a bid to reduce our rent but without success. The GAA wanted vacant possession of the premises above all else. Printwell had no option but to seek alternative accommodation. From September we moved to 17 Church Street East, North Wall, Dublin 3. The Co-operative status was changed in order to reduce onerous accounting costs and a new company, Printwell Design, was set up. This has been a year of major change and transition but the core values of Printwell Co-op will continue in the form of Printwell Design and we assure our clients that we will continue giving even greater value and service to the community well into the future.

2013

The highlight of the year was the publication of ”Dublin Tenements” by the Terry Fagan of the North Inner City Folklore Project.
Read More about ”Dublin Tenements”