A Man of Superlatives

In addition to being a renowned photographer, designer and graphic artist, Austrian Robert Sackl-Kahr Sagostin is also passionate about printing. An award-winning perfectionist who practices his art with meticulous care and loves to experiment, you never know exactly whether his work is printing, art or both.

Mr. Sackl-Kahr Sagostin, you are much in demand as a photographer and graphic artist. Your commissions include designing postage stamps for the Moroccan royal family and your photographs are on display in international galleries. What fascinates you about printing?

Sackl-Kahr Sagostin: Partly the interaction of art and printing. The art of printing should produce an art print and be viewed and conceived as printed art. My aim is to arouse enthusiasm and curiosity. That's why I experiment a great deal with colors and printing materials and try to make use of anything and everything that has some connection to printing. For example, I also work with glass, metal, stone and wood. I may print an invitation or graphic on thin pieces of wood - with the help of a rubber roller - or cut typographic elements from metal or wood.

How do your customers react?

Sackl-Kahr Sagostin: A lot of customers are looking for something a little out of the ordinary. The important thing is to select materials and processing methods that will make the end customer identify with the product. If he does, he will be happy for me to use top-quality and thus expensive materials and will appreciate the work involved. It is extremely gratifying to find companies with print products that I produced 25 years ago.

You work alone on many of your projects. Why is that?

Sackl-Kahr Sagostin: It means I'm in total control of everything - from design and lithography to offset printing. I've always been passionate about trying things out and the whole conceptual design process, and this is very important to me. That's also why I studied art in Italy. It enabled me to learn how to cast lead letters, make paper by hand, blow glass and produce products using letterpress and offset printing in the studios of masters. I still rely on this grounding in craftsmanship to this very day. I prefer to complete shorter runs of up to 500 copies using traditional equipment such as an original cylinder press (56 x 77 cm) from Heidelberg. I do a lot of work by hand - such as making printing blocks from magnesium, lead and brass engravings.

What produces top-class craftsmanship?

Sackl-Kahr Sagostin: Attention to detail and specialist know-how - starting with the paper used. Whenever I can, I get this from Büttenpapierfabrik Gmund in the Tegnersee region of Germany because of the top-quality raw materials they use. When it comes to color management, Wolfgang Croce from Mantscha, near Graz, prepares a separate calibration for every single grammage, surface, embossing and paper color. Thaler-Druck in Graz produces an original proof with different types of paper and grammages for every product. I use this company for all jobs with longer runs, such as exclusive art books. It is extremely well equipped, with two six-color and several five-color presses from Heidelberg. Most of the printing is done using hybrid screening. Platen presses from Heidelberg are used for finishing processes such as hot-gold or blind embossing and hand platens for special jobs, using hand-made paper for example.

Do the print shops need to have an understanding of art?

Sackl-Kahr Sagostin: It's essential, and older printers are especially good in this respect. Unfortunately, many of these career printers have now fallen victim to rationalization measures. I am lucky to still be working with such experts at Thaler-Druck. They know what works - how materials react with one another or the best way to create specific effects, for example. My projects would be impossible without this expertise, especially given that I experiment a great deal. For example, I may try out screen, digital or offset printing and often print in 16 colors with spot colors. Despite this, there is hardly any paper waste.

How can print shops set themselves apart from the competition?
Sackl-Kahr Sagostin: Companies that are small enough to maintain an overview and offer specialist expertise such as high-quality craftsmanship will always stand out. There are a great many customers looking for hand-made paper, top-class bookbinding in quality materials, and invitations created using hot-metal composition.



Print example 2+3

Invitation to the 2006 opening of the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Paris, including entrance ticket.
Paper: Vice Versa (Gmund) 300 gsm
Printing: 7-color + 2 coatings
Finishing: Hot and blind embossing

Invitation to the theater production King of the Brigands in Marrakech (Morocco), for which Robert Sackl-Kahr Sagostin also designed the stage set. Also pictured: a miniature sheet with the stamps he designed.
Paper: Alezan Caméleon Cult (Gmund) 300gsm
Printing: 11-color + 3 coatings
Finishing: Hot and blind embossing