London Print Brokers
020 3287 8500
Some printed items are commodities because there are so many companies which produce them. Flyers, leaflets and business cards can be produced on non-specialist equipment, operated by many printers and the market is therefore competitive.
We can produce commodity print at exceptional prices through our trade-only suppliers but we specialise in providing a complete print solution and in customer consultation.
As well as consulting with customers on rationalising their print - reducing costs, freeing up reseources and reducing their environmental impact - we also consult on specialist areas of print.
Often we've been asked to suggest means of enhancing printed materials and we have access to all of the processes necessary to do so: spot UV varnishing, bespoke watermarking, foil-blocking, embossing and die-stamping. All are specialist processes which can be employed to enhance the look and feel of a piece of print.
Stationery is the primary means which a company has of portraying their image in print. There are high-end and even luxury substrates which letterheads and business cards can be printed on to enhance their perception but to really raise the bar, we recommend die-stamping and embossing. As well as being specialist processes, these are printing as a craft.
Die-stamping and embossing work on a platen, or flat bed principle, whereby an image is impressed into the substrate to create a raised surface. This is different to the thermography process, which "blisters" litho-printed ink to raise it: die-stamping and embossing actually raise the paper or board. In the case of blind-embossing, there is no ink involved; with die-stamping, ink is applied at the same time as the substrate is brought into relief.
Die-stamping and embossing uses engraved dies instead of the plates used for conventional litho printing. For simple text, a die can be electronically "perry-etched" but for logos, emblems and coats of arms, a seperate die needs to be hand engraved by a craftsman. Die-stamping is a complex, specialist process and is not inexpensive but it enhances a business card, letterhead or other printed item beyond what any material alone could do.
And as a complete print solution provider, London Print Brokers have the specialist knowledge and expertise required to provide such specialist printed products, alongside our customers' conventional print. Rather than have to find specialist die-stamping companies and become educated in the terminology, our customers come to us and we use our trade-only die-stmapers to produce the work. If our customers also require bespoke envelopes to compliment their die-stamped stationery, they entrust the whole deal to us.
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