Ligare takes centre stage at Opera House

Sydney Opera House was a suitably grand venue for the celebration of Ligare’s 30th anniversary. Simon Enticknap reports.

Against the magnificent backdrop of Sydney Harbour and its foreshore at night, friends, customers, staff and suppliers gathered at the Opera House this week to celebrate three decades of Ligare book printing and binding.

The company began 30 years ago as a small business doing hand-binding work (Ligare is the Latin verb for ‘bind’) for the NSW State printer. It originally occupied 200 square metres in the inner city suburb of Surry Hills; today it occupies over 8,000 square metres in Riverwood and offers a complete book production service employing more than 100 staff.

In fact, as Opus Print Group CEO, Cliff Brigstocke, pointed out, the real anniversary of the company is not until 17 September which was the day in 1979 that a young 23-year-old Richard Celarc joined forces with two other shareholders to create Ligare. In historical terms, it was, said Brigstocke, a fairly nondescript day – “downright boring” in fact – although a quick glance at the major news items from that year reveal some recurring themes across the ages: there was a Democrat in the White House – Jimmy Carter – although he was about to cede to the Republicans and Ronald Reagan the following year, Russia had invaded Afghanistan and a resurgent Michael Jackson released Off the Wall.

Pictured: the faces behind Ligare, Cliff Brigstocke (left) with Richard Celarc (right), celebrate 30 years of success.

Since then, Ligare has remained true to the “old-fashioned values” that have stood it in good stead over three decades – a belief in doing business honestly and with integrity, a focus on looking after the customer and a willingness to move with the times, as shown by the company’s move into digital print more than a decade ago, one of the first printers to do so.

Richard Celarc paid tribute to the original co-founders of the company – Doug Gray and Ted Chapman – and highlighted another important element behind the company’s success; his time in the industry has not been measured in days or months, he said, but rather in the relationships formed, with customers, suppliers and staff. In particular, he drew attention to the close intertwining of family and business life, including the fact that he was married in the year that Ligare was founded and that subsequent arrivals of children coincided with important milestones in the company’s expansion. It shows the closeness of Ligare and family, he said, and the fact that the company is more than simply a business.

“I still have the passion I began with 30 years ago and in fact it’s grown,” he said.

To commemorate the anniversary, Cliff Brigstocke presented a mounted metal die of the original Ligare logo to Richard Celarc while guests at the celebration were given a specially-produced book – of course – entitled Ligare – 3 Decades that traces the company’s history.

It’s possible to tell a lot about the nature of a business from the way in which it celebrates its achievements, and that much is true, too, of Ligare which, in its commemorative book, focuses mainly on the contribution of staff, past and present, including listing all the names of current employees.