Germany: Monday

Bright and early Monday morning we got right to work. This was our second year printing with Kohlhammer and during that time I've frequently talked on the phone to and emailed Jorge, the lead pressman there. It was great to finally meet him in person. And he was awesome. I'd put him up there in the ranks of Chuck and Tony. And Curt. Hands down my most favorite moment in Germany occurred when we were in the middle of printing the first form and I asked Jorge to "bring down the color." Twice. The look he gave me was "you are completely insane." It was priceless. Those of you familiar with printing, particularly the printing of Stampin' Up! projects, can pretty much imagine how this conversation went down. Add in the language barrier. And how seriously Germans take their printing. So. Incredibly. Funny.

Kohlhammer has made a name for itself as one of the biggest and most cutting-edge sheet-fed offset printing companies in central Europe. In fact, the first Goss M-600 Folia press, with groundbreaking web-to-sheet technology, was installed there in 2010 and we got to print our Idea Book & Catalogue on it this year. It was an amazing opportunity professionally. And I have to tell you, it was one sexy machine.


In between press checks, we hung out in the German version of a "comfort room". It was little more than a conference room. Not all that comfortable. Except for the endless supply of fresh pretzels and glass-bottled Coke. Yum and yum.


The drive between our hotel and Kohlhammer lasted about 15 minutes and took us through old town Esslingen and by the beautiful vineyards. We did this drive about a bazillion times and it never got old. Winemaking is a 1200 year tradition in the town of Esslingen and its hills are covered by miles of beautiful vineyards. I was told that locals take their wine so seriously there that both the importing of foreign wine and the exporting of local wine is, at least formally, forbidden. Wine tasting walks through the vines and stone pathways are a very popular way to spend a summer evening. So I did just that during one of my breaks on Monday.


More to come . . .