It’s not every day you meet someone with a unique set of skills, coupled with plenty of passion. But that’s Mike Spring in a nutshell. Image Reports editor, Melanie Attlesey, speaks to the owner of Print and Frame It to find out more about this very niche business.
For nearly two decades, Mike has operated from a unit in Luton quietly providing printing and framing services to famous names and members of the public alike.
But that’s not where his journey into print began.
Fresh out of university at the age of 21, Mike started work at design agency Saatchi & Saatchi in London as their creative ideas person, churning out idea after idea each and every hour of the day.
“Every time I asked if we could do something, I kept being told by the printers that it just wasn’t possible,” explains Mike. This led to Mike becoming increasingly frustrated by these limitations and restrictions. “I thought the only way I’m going to learn is if I become a printer and then no-one will be able to tell me what is and isn’t possible,” he added.
This led Mike to start work at Raster Graphics as, in his words, the ‘demonstration kid’. “This job was a God send. Not only did I learn how to operate the machines better than most people, but I also learnt how the industry worked,” says Mike.
However, with his knowledge and experience in graphic design, demonstrating printers was not quite what he had in mind for his career path.
A stoke of luck
A stroke of luck followed next and Mike was headhunted by Imaginators (Swan Graphics), where he picked up even more knowledge of the large-format print market.
Mike’s expertise was clearly getting him noticed and he was headhunted again, this time by Coca-Cola in Buenos Aires to work as the company’s creative director. This was a job Mike loved for it meant, that at long last, he could let his creative juices flow. And with his knowledge of the print industry, Mike was able to save Coca-Cola a lot of money on some of the design jobs by just employing the right processes. He recalls saving them £250,000 on one particular job.
A fond memory of his time in Buenos Aires was when he designed a round Coca-Cola bottle for the 2006 World Cup – a project he was told was going to be difficult to come to fruition. He proved the doubters wrong.
Sadly, Mike’s time Buenos Aires was cut short when he made the decision to return back to the UK for personal reasons. On his return to Luton Mike realised that there was nowhere in the town that provided high quality print. He set about remedying this almost immediately.
In a strange turn of events, his mission came to an end when he purchased a picture framing shop he used to visit as a student. M&H Services as it was known then, quickly evolved into Print and Frame It under Mike’s ownership, with the addition of wide-format printing and fine art printing added to excellent picture framing services already provided.
Saw the potential
“I saw the potential in what the business could become. I had no knowledge of picture framing, and it took me a long time to learn the skill. I thought I would jump in and see how it goes,” says Mike.
Over the years, Mike transformed Print and Frame It into a business that sits halfway between a print service provider and a picture framer. Something of a niche in the UK print market.
Around 10 years ago Mike introduced giclée printing, a unique type of fine art printing, to his growing list of services. This proved to be a turning point for Print and Frame It. “We introduced this as no-one else in Luton was doing it,” explains Mike.
It turned the company into one of the most advanced picture framers in the country. A business that has won many awards over the years and whose services are very much in demand.
One of Michael’s award-winning frames
Unique services
Another unique service offered by Print and Frame It is the option to wrap a picture frame with car wrap. Mike will print onto the vinyl and will then wrap the frame. This transforms a picture frame into a totally bespoke article. This is a popular choice for clients such as Morgan Motor Company.
At any one-point Mike has 4,000 frames in stock, which equates to approximately 75,000 linear metres. And the reason for this is because Mike says that he never knows who is going to walk through the door and what job is going to come in next. The most expensive frame in the offering costs £18,500 for a length. You might ask why it costs so much? Well, it’s been articulately crafted by a French designer and has 24 carat gold leaf underneath the wood.
Never say no
Another element to Mike’s skill set is his ability to never say no to a job – no matter the level of difficulty. He uses his expertise garnered over the years and takes on any challenge with gusto. In fact, he thrives off it.
“I like the pressure. I like the hassle. And I love to accept the jobs that no-one else does or has the time to do. I love it when people say ‘that’s not possible’, I then like to prove them wrong,” says Mike. As previously seen in his career to date.
A corner frame for Costa Coffee
Mike is a stickler for detail. Not just in his work, but in his equipment.
“I calibrate my printers and their print heads all the time. Colour is very important to me. If the print heads aren’t perfect, I have to call in the engineers,” he says. “I run the printers at their slowest so the print quality is the highest it can be. When I look at new machines, the speed of them doesn’t concern me as our customers are happy to wait. I can’t compete with the big guys on speed – there is no point in trying – so I try to better them with the quality of the prints we produce.”
And this is evident when you see some of the projects he has completed for his customers.
A great love
One of Mike’s great loves in his job, is not the fact that he gets to tinker with technology all day long, but the fact that he can learn about the personal side of the jobs he does by talking to his customers.
“It’s the memories and the memorabilia that set me off,” says Mike.
One project that Mike recalls is a customer who wanted her brother’s World War Two medals framed. “Me being me, I try to find out as much about the customer as possible so I can see what their mind is like and what exactly they want the end result to look like,” he explains.
Wallpaper in Arsenal Football Club players’ tunnel
At the time, Mike’s six-year-old daughter was studying WWII in school, and so a trip to the Imperial War Museum ensued. Mike took the medals with him on the off chance someone from the museum would be able to tell him more about the person behind them. Mike managed to walk away with photographs of the war hero, details of his burial site, and his war papers.
The customer thought she was just picking up her brother’s war medals, but was overjoyed by the additional information Mike was able to provide.
In addition to the personal jobs, Mike also counts among his customers, big clients such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Porsche, boxer Anthony Joshua, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, and numerous football clubs and their players.
Mike concludes the interview by saying that he gets his kick out of print and this was clear from the minute I sat down with him. It’s so lovely to speak to a man who is so passionate about something he doesn’t even consider work.
