Meet our printers: A. Maciel Printing

Opening Contigo, I have learned so much about myself. It has been an incredible workshop. A wise person once told me that how you do anything is how you do everything. I am a cook and I'm learning that I bring a cook's perspective to everything I do. I make decisions the same way that I cook and shop. When I go to the farmers market, for example, I like to survey the entire market before I choose which tangerine to buy. I sniff, I squeeze, I taste. I ask the farmers questions. I listen to their stories. I gain equal amounts of pleasure from the process as I do from the sweet juicy tangerine that is the end result.

I shopped for a long time to find the right printer for Contigo's business cards and other print materials. I interviewed, I got samples, I got price quotes. I wanted a printer who cared not just about the quality of the end result, but the process. I wanted a printer with integrity.

I had nearly given up my quest when I asked Elan, my girlfriend and partner in Contigo, to try her hand. I pride myself in my research abilities, but I am a punter compared to Elan. Ask Elan to research a topic and she will have an answer — no, the best possible answer — for you faster than a chocolate bar melts on a hot summer day. Her discovery: A. Maciel Printing.

 For those who care about the environment, A. Maciel Printing (and their subsidiary greenpostcards.com) is the dream print shop. Thanks to A. Maciel, we can proudly proclaim that all of Contigo's business cards and postcards are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled content, chlorine free, uncoated paper with soy based inks. And that's not all. A. Maciel's print shop is 100% wind powered, their presses are twice as efficient as comparable presses, and their workers are unionized. Their delivery car? A Prius, of course. I heart our printers.

Best of all, A. Maciel's story is as sweet as one of Will Brokaw's gold nugget tangerines. A. Maciel is a family run business. When he started the shop more than 20 years ago, Alfonso Maciel Sr. wanted to make sure his kids would be safe running around in their dad's print shop. He and his wife did everything they could to eliminate potentially toxic chemicals from their print shop. Now their children are grown and they work beside their parents in their idyllic printshop that includes an awesome 50-year-old Heidelberg letter press.

We at Contigo feel fortunate to collaborate with a print shop that shares our passion for sustainable and environmentally responsible business practices. Thank you, A. Maciel!

Comments

[Mighty Tasty Kat]

Perfect timing! I need to get some biz cards done for my new site and really wanted to go this direction as well.

[Noe Valley, SF]

That's cool, Brett!! And a good plug for next time I need to order cards.

Have you figured out a green way to print credit card slips and dining receipts? There's a lot more of that paper every night than business cards.

[catherine ross]

Excellent! Excel in all you do!

[Fine Life Folk]

It is true that how you do anything is how you do everything. I am an artist and my goal is always to be original and innovate, so whenever I shop for anything, I always make it a point that it's appealing aesthetically and not really mass-produced. Very nice insight.