Life's Rich At Tapestry

When Tapestry took the radical decision to scrap E6 processing last year, many wondered if they would look back with regret. But founding partner Mike Heudebourck was confident that with strong colour management skills the digital gain would more than make up for the withdrawal of E6 services.

Photographer Alex Sarginson uses Tapestry for processing and scanning work. This image was shot for The Bodyshop.

Established in 1972, Tapestry is an independently owned creative services company, which has made some brave changes to its business during the last year. As well as scrapping the E6 line, the lab also ceased R-3 printing services to make way for a gallery and a dedicated photographic digital printing facility.

"While our roots are those of a hard-core photographic lab, in the late eighties we recognised that digital technology was causing the photographic and reprographic markets to merge ," said Mike.

This trend continued into the late nineties, when it was decided to join with Mullis Morgan and the new business name of Tapestry.MM evolved. As Mullis is one of the preferred partners of the national press, doors opened to a world of work and opportunity previously unavailable to Tapestry.

"A lot of our clients are specialist fashion photographers - many of whom now use digital, or colour neg film rather than transparency - due to the greater latitude the film affords.

Tapestry's full range of photographic services are detailed on the website at www.tapestrymm.com

"While some clients will still need digital transparencies created for repro, we are seeing more and more using digital cameras. Our knowledge of end user requirements means we're best placed to advise photographers and produce the best possible image - however it was captured.

"Colour management is the topic on everyone's lips," continued Mike.

"With more and more clients using digital capture and retouching, there's a real appetite for knowledge in this area. The differences between a scanned and digital image, RGB and CMYK files, and different output methods, means what you see isn't always what you expected!"

To support this need for learning, Tapestry.MM has launched a series of evening seminars, run by Gillian Milton and Shea Kelly, lab manager and Adobe-certified Photoshop expert.

"We're trying to foster an 'open' standard - to benefit all parties involved in the image processing business," said Shea.

"There's no hard sell - we're taking a completely independent stance - simply giving best advice on file preparation and supply, whether RGB or CMYK." Mike Heudebourck concluded: "We have a real advantage over our competitors, having been in repro and CMYK for a number of years - whereas other labs' main experience is predominantly in RGB. We pride ourselves on staying at the vanguard of digital services and what might have seemed like a radical decision at the time has certainly paid off for both us and our clients."

For more information contact Shea Kelly or Mike Heudebourck on 020 7896 3100 or email shea.kelly@tapestrymm.com