Australian Photography — January 2018

H

aving run a successful photo lab for 20 years, in

2010 Dutch-born Frank Hoekstra and his wife

Marie Cosgrave brought to Australia this new

and exciting medium for printing and display-

ing images. Offering custom sizes, a range of surfaces

and their own designed aluminium framing, metal

prints have become the choice of photographers, art-

ists and many other creatives.

With the increasing change to digital technology

and declining sales in film processing and printing,

most local photo labs closed their doors. Faced with

this predictable fate the couple knew they must look

to re-create themselves.

Via the internet Marie found a small business in the

USA that had taken what they had learned in the trophy

& awards industry and started to print images on metal.

After a brief visit to San Francisco in early 2010 they

brought home enough knowledge to get Print 2 Metal

started. Seeing this response from customers in their

photolab made the decision fairly easy to sell the lab in

2011 and concentrate on metal printing only.

Up until August 2014 Print 2 Metal operated out of

their backyard purpose-built shed. Marie recalls a sup-

plier once asking, “you don’t really live here?” as he

walked past rooms filled with supplies, to the kitchen

table where they held their meeting.

The concept is still new and unknown to many. Edu-

cating people about this new print technology has been

Award-winning company Print 2 Metal

specialises in the printing of your photos,

artwork and graphics onto lightweight

aluminium for the latest contemporary look.

FEATURE: SPECIAL PRINT 2 METAL PROMOTION

HEAVY METAL

PRINT 2 METAL’S PIONEERING METAL PRINTS