Motorcycling Through Europe: A Screen Printer’s Journey into the Past, Present, and Future of the Industry

Guido and his student Zoe display a few pennants created in the early 1900s. These were the first recorded use of screen printing, and the technique adapted was quickly for use in graphic production.

YOU GET TO A certain age, you’re supposed to retire. But some people — idiots like me — stay connected to a process that gave me a living, a good life for my family, and great experiences and friends. You can’t ask for much more in life. But one thing I always wanted to do was go motorcycling in Europe. What was supposed to be an adventure of a lifetime also allowed me to reconnect with some interesting people from my screen-printing life. I guess it’s true…you can drop the squeegee in the ink, but you can never leave it there.

Episode 27 of Art, Ad, or Alchemy lets me tell you a little story of these reconnections. It started in Heidelberg, Germany, where I picked up my motorcycle at Knopf Tours. Close by in Wiesloch is the world headquarters of Kissel and Wolf, or Kiwo to most screen printers. The company supplies chemical products worldwide for screen and textile printing; industrial, flock and special adhesives; cleaning agents; resists and coatings. It also offers services for product development and contract manufacturing.

Run since the1990s by David Eisenbeiss, they have been in business for more than 125 years — also own the pioneering brand Ulano — and manufacture and distribute a range of products worldwide from their locations in Germany, Houston TX, and India. Truly, they encompass the “past, present and future” of the industry.

David hooked me up with Thomas Starsetski, who gave me a tour of the operation. In a future episode, I’ll interview him and learn more about what goes on there. We visited the research and development labs, and the production and sipping facilities, which cover a couple of city blocks. Some of the original buildings date from pre-WWII but are very modern inside.

Interesting to note, offset printing giant Heidelberg and operating system world leaders SAP are both within site of the Kiwo factory. A bit of a testimony to the idea of home-grown manufacturing growing organically and staying in the towns they start in. A lesson our “business” leaders in North America could take to heart if they want local manufacturing. It used to be this way. SAP started in a garage.

In Fabio’s workshop, an array of props and models are under construction. He makes models and full-sized costumes based on characters from games and videos.

Meeting The Masters

Working our way south to Switzerland, I finally met author and historian Guido Lengwiler, after working for many years to help publish his book, “A History of Screen Printing.” From 2008 until publication in 2013, we kept up a weekly correspondence and have remained in touch since. This monumental book tells the story of the development of the screen-printing process, from early stenciling in Asia to it’s true birth and development in the U.S., and its subsequent spread around the world during the 1920s.

Guido’s studio is a repository of historical materials, including some of the oldest examples of the first use of screen printing in the pennant industry producing souvenirs for travelers, advertising materials for a range of products, outdoor advertising, and art prints. He is fascinated by the “past,” but continues to print his own art. He now is working on a history of Hans Caspar Ulrich, who went to the U.S. to investigate the new “silk screen process” that artisans started after buying sifting silk from his uncle’s mesh weaving company. His handwritten notes and drawings as he traveled the country visiting early pioneer companies in the country formed the basis of the growth of the process in Europe.

Then we made it to Rome, where we stayed with my friend Fabio Meschini. Trained as an architect, he developed an interest in graphic design and then screen-printing posters for rock bands. We met at a Flatstock show in Barcelona 2014, and he invited me to teach classes with him at his studio in Rome in 2015. Many of the students I met continue screen printing today. But with covid essentially shutting down the live touring music industry, which in turn dried up the demand for posters, he started to look for other creative outlets.

Visiting his studio in 2025, the screen-printing equipment is in the background and supplanted by an array of small- and full-size models and outfits from online games. He’s not sure where it’s all going, but he remains a creative wizard as he does 3D modelling, painting, and costume design, experimenting and learning all the time. Let’s call what he does the “present” reality in his life.

Thomas gave me a tour of the production and testing facilities at Kiwo. The testing labs have UV filters to block light. He shows us the specialized rotary screens used in textile and wallpaper production. A metal rod is attracted to the base of the machine and forces the ink through the cylindrical screen as it rotates. The company’s R & D team is constantly testing its products and developing new ones.

Change? We Always Have

There’s no question the world of screen printing has changed. From a peak in the 1990s, the introduction of digital printing technologies saw certain sectors of the screen-printing industry decline. Many of the sectors screen printers created — outdoor advertising and signage production, POP displays, stickers, advertising specialties, and other subcategories — became easier and cheaper to produce using digital printing technologies. Other sectors — especially electronics, industrial, medical and textile decoration — continued to grow as demand and innovation produced new products manufactured with the screen process in mind.

This transition, from graphic imaging to industrial manufacturing technology, used screen-printing’s unique characteristics to expand the idea of what “print” is. Unfortunately, government, education, and business stay stuck in the mindset that “print” only is words and pictures on paper.

If we take a global view, it’s important to note that screen printing usage continues actually to increase. In North America and Europe, manufacturing and the use of screen printing declined as it became more profitable to close factories and import cheaper goods from outside the country, even as Mexico, Central America, India, and Asia took up the slack and pushed the process.

At the same time, the skills needed to control quality and operate efficiently were degraded as education in screen printing disappeared from institutions and skilled workers retired. New screen printers had two choices: Learn skills by trial and error using a book or internet tutorials or go to work for companies that took up the challenge of training, automation, and innovation to continue to grow and stay profitable.

I spent the night with Marilyn Monroe. Yes, that’s an original Warhol print. Life is full of surprises. You just need to get out there and discover them.

Once I’m through traveling, I’m hoping to revisit Kiwo, Guido, and Fabio and interview them to dig deeper into our past, our present, and our future. Screen printers should take some pride in their profession. From humble beginnings and a small position as an archaic form of print, it created entire industries that continue to thrive today. The electronic devices that have revolutionized the world and ushered in our digital universe don’t exist without it. Every time you tap your phone screen printing makes the connection. And until something better, faster, more efficient, and cost effective comes along, it will continue.

Plus, it allowed me to sleep with Marilyn Monroe one night. Ciao!

PHOTO GALLERY (10 IMAGES)