Tyson Printers For Life
The story of how Tyson Printers came to be is an intriguing tale. My love for printing was ignited on a school trip to a museum that focused on the industrial revolution. I remember being mesmerised by a working replica of an old movable type printer. It really captured my imagination, and when I got home I began to research other printing techniques and the history of printing.
After a few weeks of planning I managed to create my first block printing set up. It was a little crude but it did the job. I had a lot of fun experimenting with it, printing on bits of card to begin with but eventually even made a few t-shirts with simple designs.
After that I decided I wanted to get into screen printing. I knew if I was ever to have a half decent screen printing set up it would have to be more exact and require a lot more effort to pull off effectively. After a lot of research and mulling over the plans of several printers set ups I put together my own plans. They were based on an existing DIY model but with a few of my own modifications.
The hardest part for me was getting the screens right and mastering the technique used to actually pull the ink across the material. I had always had a keen passion for art and I had a few designs that I thought would look good on t shirt, so I printed those up and started selling them at school. To my surprise people actually liked them! Before long I was taking orders for bespoke tees and making some decent money off them, decent for a schoolboy in any case!
My designs got more elaborate and I began to try my hand at multiple colour designs, this was getting close to a year in so I was well practised with my machine and really getting to grips with it. By this time I was totally immersed in my printing, it was pretty much all I was thinking about and I knew that I wanted to continue working in the field when I left school.
When it came to doing work experience I of course started sending out requests to all the local printing companies hoping that one would take me on for a week. Thankfully I had a few that were willing. I must have really impressed them because they actually offered me a job when I left school. This provided the perfect opportunity for me to further my printing knowledge and gain invaluable experience in the industry. I stayed with that company for three years in the end before deciding to start up my own company, Tyson.
That was five years back. I'm proud to say that we've gone from strength to strength and today we are running one of the most trusted and successful printing companies in the south of England. It has been an amazing ride with plenty of ups and downs, twists and turns and we very nearly lost everything on one occasion. Would I swap where I am today for the world? Not a chance!
After a few weeks of planning I managed to create my first block printing set up. It was a little crude but it did the job. I had a lot of fun experimenting with it, printing on bits of card to begin with but eventually even made a few t-shirts with simple designs.
After that I decided I wanted to get into screen printing. I knew if I was ever to have a half decent screen printing set up it would have to be more exact and require a lot more effort to pull off effectively. After a lot of research and mulling over the plans of several printers set ups I put together my own plans. They were based on an existing DIY model but with a few of my own modifications.
The hardest part for me was getting the screens right and mastering the technique used to actually pull the ink across the material. I had always had a keen passion for art and I had a few designs that I thought would look good on t shirt, so I printed those up and started selling them at school. To my surprise people actually liked them! Before long I was taking orders for bespoke tees and making some decent money off them, decent for a schoolboy in any case!
My designs got more elaborate and I began to try my hand at multiple colour designs, this was getting close to a year in so I was well practised with my machine and really getting to grips with it. By this time I was totally immersed in my printing, it was pretty much all I was thinking about and I knew that I wanted to continue working in the field when I left school.
When it came to doing work experience I of course started sending out requests to all the local printing companies hoping that one would take me on for a week. Thankfully I had a few that were willing. I must have really impressed them because they actually offered me a job when I left school. This provided the perfect opportunity for me to further my printing knowledge and gain invaluable experience in the industry. I stayed with that company for three years in the end before deciding to start up my own company, Tyson.
That was five years back. I'm proud to say that we've gone from strength to strength and today we are running one of the most trusted and successful printing companies in the south of England. It has been an amazing ride with plenty of ups and downs, twists and turns and we very nearly lost everything on one occasion. Would I swap where I am today for the world? Not a chance!