by Angelo Barzaghi, founder and teacher of Accademia Serigrafica

www.accademiaserigrafica.com

People always think that business is done when you sell. Actually, the moment of purchasing is critical to obtain as much as possible from the investment that is being made. The same is with serigraphy.

Purchasing well means to obtain, since the beginning, important returns on the investment made. And then, where should we begin to start a business in the serigraphy and customisation field? And how can this be done avoiding the risk of finding themselves, after little time, inventing systems to print with unsuitable machines or, even worse, limited in a system with no chance of being developed? Obviously what we are saying is useful in case you want to approach serigraphy seriously or make a step ahead towards a more structured situation.

Market, spaces and machines

The road to follow is that of professionalism, choosing the best and most competent channels, getting informed, documented and starting from professional training detached from any type of business interest. This does not imply that those selling machines and products are not reliable, but often relying on a system, either big or small, can become counter-productive and limiting.

Without going deep into specific situations, we can evidence the ideal approach that should be adopted to start a business in a conscious and attentive way.

The first step is deciding the market to address. Often, instead, we focus on the equipment to be used and not to the client to whom a product must be sold. Starting from the end is not always good for the health and life of the company.

Once the market has been chosen, we must know how to organise ourselves for both spaces and infrastructure: opening a serigraphy workshop means also knowing the regulations and understanding to whom and how the permits for the fitness for habitation of the premises are to be asked, and also how to properly handle the special waste and the quality in the work environment.

Foreseeing, unfortunately very few are able to do it, what can happen with a fast development, like, for example, the “results” of the introduction of a drying machine in terms of power consumption. And this is only a hint to the various possibilities that can occur. Therefore, choosing the right equipment, the most suitable for the market to be addressed, proves to be critical.

Don’t focus exclusively on the price.

In Italy, now, serigraphy means t-shirt and clothing accessories. The result? Well. They all go towards a direction, the market saturates and, inevitably, it focuses on the detail that can become a trap: price.

Serigraphy is not only clothing, but includes endless possibilities also when starting from a small reality. Of course, having in mind the fabric sector, you must privilege the most suitable machines; otherwise, if you decide to address the graphic design market (stickers, glass, wood, metal, paper, even transfer) the equipment must be of a completely different kind. To conclude, we should specify that graphic design means flat machines, with a suction plane and dedicate structures for ink drying; textile, instead, means carousel with intermediate drying stations and ovens suitable for the kind of inks to be used.