Mihir's Impressions

Trade shows, trade shows everywhere. The Screen Print show is on in Mumbai, which I visited yesterday.  Great strides in textile applications and automotive sectors. Publicon concluded in Delhi with a thrust on ePublishing. I propose to visit the Interprint Expo in New Delhi between 14-16 September. Big purchases expected from foreign visitors; what with the recent bi-later trade agreements that India has inked.

A hectic two month looms large for the printing industry as some of the year’s most awaited niche expositions kick-off in the next two months. be it: LabelExpo India to Frankfurt Book Fair. A quick preview of some of the important expositions that are coming our way.

Publishing Next

The second edition of the Publishing Next conference will be held in picturesque Goa at the Krishnadas Shama State Central Library, Panaji on 14 and 15 September.

This year the conference is going to be a three-track event which will include experience and technology sharing seminars from industry leaders, panel discussions and workshops. The advent of new technologies and their effect on publishing will also be discussed.

Major names from the Indian and international publishing industry will grace the event, some of the speakers at the conference are Arun Maheshwari of Vani Prakashan, K. Srinivas of Pearson India, Rahul Dixit of Penguin India, Ranjan Kaul of Oxford University Press, Rakesh Khanna of Blaft Publications, Sanjiv Goswami of Springer India, Suzanne Singh of Pratham Books and Vatsala Kaul-Banerjee of Hachette India.

A team from Welbound Worldwide is conducting a bookbinding workshop for the publishers. Looking at the number of smashed spines and incorrect grain direction, an absolute need of the hour.

Wan-Ifra conference

The city of Pune which was recently rated as a Gamma-Global City will play the host to this year’s Wan-Ifra India Conference for the first time. The biggest names in the news publishing industry will converge to Pune for the conference which will discuss the challenges of managing the growth of print media business.

Erik Bjerager (the president, World Editor's Forum), Peter Britto (chief manager, Times of India), C J Jassawalla (the executive director - printing, Thomson Press), M Kesava Menon (editor, The Mathrubhumi),  Jacob Mathew (president, Wan-Ifra), Vincent Sider (vice president - Social Media, BBC Worldwide) and R Sukumar (the editor, Mint) are some of the prominent speakers at the conference.

Wan-Ifra India 2012, the twentieth annual conference of WAN-IFRA South Asia will be held on September 26-27 at Pune Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre.

Frankfurt Book Fair

This year Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the world's largest trade fair for books will take place from 10 to 14 October.

The Indian contingent comprises of about 60 exhibitors includes many companies like Delhi Press, Gopsons Papers, International Print O Pac, Jayant Printeries, Manipal Technologies, Multivista, Navneet Publications, Nutech Print Services, Parksons Graphics, Replika Press, Repro India, Srinivas Fine Arts,  and plus  trade associations like CAPEXIL.

The National Book Printer’s Conference (NBPC) will spearhead India’s bid to increase India's book exports with a collective stand at the premier book event of the world.

Further, there are matchmaking sessions, where Indian publishers and print firms will be able to interact with their international counterparts. The Indian Business Lunch organised by FICCI on 12 October can also prove to be a productive session. In this session, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will bring together experts from the Indian publishing industry to talk about the publishing ecosystem and markets in India- an area which still engenders curiosity.

Labelexpo India

The buzz that has been created around Labelexpo India which will be held between 29 October and 1 November 2012 at New Delhi's Pragati Maidan has been immense. One of the most awaited expo of 2012 will see many manufacturers, printers, print buyers and packaging converters heading towards Delhi.

Apsom Infotex, BST Sayona (PowerScope 4000, a digital video web inspection system), FIG (Xeikon) Kodak, Mimaki Kanphor and Reifenhauser (AVT defect detection system) are some of the major  press manufacturers who will mark their presence at the Expo.

About 200 exhibitors are expected to participate at Labelexpo India which will be the largest event for the label, product decoration, web printing and converting industry in South Asia.

Since the show was last held in 2010, India's label industry has continued to grow at around 15%, while globally it’s 7%. Business has become more commercialised with international brands such as Carrefour and Walmart entering the Indian wholesale market and driving opportunities for label converters.

Chalo Delhi! 
 

Writings on the Wall

Graffiti in today’s day and age is so often associated with vandalism; in fact the truth is far from it. Recently, I had the chance to catch Exit Through The Gift Shop a documentary directed by the graffiti artist who is better known as the notoriously secretive Banksy, whose art graces the walls of cities like London, Melbourne, Los Angeles and the West Bank.

Graffiti is revolutionary, and any revolution might be considered a crime. People who are oppressed or suppressed need an outlet, so they write on walls—it's free. It’s just an extension of our freedom of speech. It can beautiful, humorous and political.

India’s maximum city also has had its fair share of brushes with graffiti from suburban youth defacing private and public property, citizens coming together in order to beautify the Tulsi Pipe Road in Mumbai and to a crusader who calls himself Daku trying to bottle a city’s feelings through his art.

Art is beautiful in all its form. Checkout some of the best graffiti jobs throughout the world: http://www.fatcap.com/