Strong Turnout for Successful Sydney & Melbourne drupa Reviews
26-Jun-2024The industry came together in Sydney and Melbourne over the past week to review the trends and directions set at the recent drupa exhibition and to celebrate with graduate finalists at the State LIA Graduate of the Year Awards. Over 60 people in Sydney and some 70 in Melbourne, attended the events which were hosted by Visual Connections in partnership with the Visual Media Association, the LIA and the FPLMA, and generously sponsored by Currie Group and HP.
The Bavarian in Sydney’s World Square and the Munich Brauhaus at South Wharf in Melbourne proved the perfect venues to give attendees an authentic ‘flavour’ of the Düsseldorf exhibition, with plenty of good German cuisine enjoyed as guests heard from a panel of guest speakers.
Guests were brought up to date on the trends and directions set at the world’s largest print exhibition with presentations from Sarah Moore and Robyn Frampton from Visual Connections in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.
These included the ‘coming of age’ of digitisation, greater emphasis on automation and robotics, the influence of AI, a trend towards vendor partnerships and collaborations, and the ongoing drive for greater sustainability. Overall, the summation was that print, in all its forms, is very much alive and well – and that there are plenty of exciting opportunities for the future.
Their overview was complemented by reflections from industry leaders who also attended the event – in Sydney, Benn Murphy from Clarke Murphy Print and Pranil Chandra from Next Printing, and in Melbourne, Heath Nankervis from Southern Impact and Andrew Crump from Peacock Bros.
This future-focus was a perfect introduction to the presentation of the 2024 LIA NSW and Victorian Graduate of the Year Awards, which are run annually at State level by the association ‘for all people in print’ to recognise the achievements of the industry’s future leaders.
In Sydney, the NSW award was presented to lithographic printer Robert Neale from WestRock. LIA’s Angus Scott introduced the Awards and Robert was presented with his trophy by Savas Mystakidis, Managing Director of major sponsor Heidelberg Australia.
In Melbourne, LIA Victoria Vice President Jaz Allen introduced the Awards, reflecting on the importance of the program, then introducing Lindsay Banks from LIA Victoria and Darren Brookes from Heidelberg who presented certificates to 2024 Finalists.
Imran Yunus from Multi Color Corporation, Emily McEwan from Jamesprint, Michael Bui from Fildes Food Safety, Jason Zhang from Richdale Plastics and Nicholas Smith from Park Douglas Printing were named as finalists. Imran came out overall Winner this year with Emily awarded Regional Winner.
Heidelberg Australia has sponsored the LIA Graduate of the Year Awards since they were founded in Queensland in 1975 by funding all State winners to attend the biennial National Awards Presentation, and the Collie Trust provided grants to the Victorian winners totalling $5000. Visual Connections and Ball & Doggett were also acknowledged for their ongoing support of the biennial LIA National Graduate Awards with $10,000 and $5,000 grants respectively.
Feedback from the events were overwhelmingly positive, with guests appreciating the opportunity to stay abreast of industry trends, discuss the trends set at the international show, and network with industry colleagues.
