Printing industry stalwart Norman J. Field is retiring at the age of 86, after more than 60 years in the industry.
Founder of Norman J. Field Printing, Field has spent the past 18 years consulting for Victoria's Eastern Press. Colleague Dave Chaplin, senior account manager at Eastern, said Field was a ground-breaker, having been the first printer in Australia to produce 200-line screen print. "He’s always been known for the quality of his work and his high ethical standards," said Chaplin. "He’s one of these blokes who has a million stories. He’s had a wonderful career and he’s a great gentleman, so it’ll be sad to see him go.
"It's been an honour and a pleasure to work with him. He's raised the bar for the industry over the years."
Field was the recipient of this year's Industry Legend Award at the National Print Awards, and reflected on the monumental changes he'd seen over the course of his career in his acceptance speech. "Having spent 62 years in this exciting industry, I have witnessed incredible changes from my first introduction to Gestetner machines using typewriters to cut stencils which could only produce typewritten copy with no images," he said. "I always embraced, and willingly experimented with, any new products which I believed kept the company ahead of the competition.
"After growing from two employees to 168 over 20 years, I am eternally grateful to the wonderful people who gave the company such a great reputation, and I thank them for their expertise and friendship."
Field will now be able to spend more time with his family, including partner Elly Wilson, his adult children, and his grandchildren.