A photo from the last time IRgA made a group trip to Germany, in 2018. In this photo are Lisa Tipps, previously owner of Dynamic Reprographics in Austin; Ed Avis from IRgA; Tony Militano from Carbon Graphics Group in Calgary, Alberta; and Horst Zuse, son of computer and plotter pioneer Konrad Zuse.
Thousands of print professionals are headed to Dusseldorf, Germany in May for DRUPA, a giant print trade show that only happens every four years. The IRgA will be represented there by Steve Wakefield of Springfield Reprographics in Illinois; Bart and Babs Jordan of Dorado Graphix in Jacksonville, Florida; and Ed Avis, managing director of IRgA.
The Americans will visit DRUPA for two days in late May. On the first day of the visit they will enjoy a tour of key booths led by Achim Carius, the former executive director of motio, the German reprographics association.
Later that week the group will travel to Frankfurt and get a first hand, behind-the-scenes look at two leading reprographics shops in that city, Druckriegel and Irmschler-Ruppert. Those tours will be led by their respective owners, Frank Ruckriegel and Michael Irmschler. That evening the group will have dinner with Raoul Zardeninks, the new executive director of motio. They will share ideas about how to strengthen the relations between motio and IRgA.
The remaining three days of the trip will include a tour of the old town portion of Frankfurt and visits to two cities south of Frankfurt where ancestors of some members of the group lived.