Australia’s most internationally awarded printer, Drago Zorec, closes up shop

End of an era as D&D Global calls in the administrators and liquidates its iconic Richmond site.

An international reputation for innovative printing, including the most awarded 'Bennies' to any single printer, was not enough to sustain Drago Zorec’s unique vision of ‘cross media’ printing. Last Wednesday he gathered the 12-person staff together at his innovative facility, which featured its own coffee bar and design studio, to introduce the administrators.  He maintains the decision to put the company into administration was of his own volition – “the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he said. The administrators subsequently liquidated the business.

Despite a penchant for entering and winning printing awards, in the end everyday commercial pressures proved too much for D&D Global to continue. Drago said he is taking a week off skiing to clear his head before making any decisions on the future. He maintains most of the staff, some with his help, were able to find alternative employment.

The flamboyant Zorec made his name with a patented 12-colour printing process that he tried to licence around the world. He positioned the company as an ultra-high quality printer, targeting Melbourne’s advertising agencies.  Most of his awards were won by D&D’s own unique promotional work.

He had a special run at the Benjamin Franklin Awards, the ‘Bennies’, which are the premier US-based printing prizes. D&D Global won more bronze statuettes than anyone else.

He was less successful at the National Print Awards here. For most of his time the gold eluded him. Only in recent years did he pick up a gold in 2003 and then the Agfa prize for most innovative use of imaging in print in 2005. A gold in the Sappi Trading Printer of the Year in 2006 gave Drago the opportunity to compete against the best in the world in Budapest.

In a brief phone interview, Drago said the market had shifted and in his opinion was no longer prepared to pay a premium for quality. He concluded that many printing companies were continuing to operate without making money. “I can’t see any future for the industry, he said.