Bookbinders to help store those photo memories

Now, more than 40 years on, Yorkshire firm Hollingworth & Moss has launched a new division to take advantage of Britons’ craze for storing pictures electronically and storing them online.

The Leeds company has set a dedicated photobook ordering website, Love Photo Books, aimed at all those people who have stored their pictures on laptops and PCs but never got around to printing them as a permanent record.

Customers can create a personalised album after they have downloaded the software.

They also have the option of creating their own designs before they pay for a photobook bound by hand.

Richard Hollingworth, 40, who along with his brother, Paul, 43, is joint managing director, said: “This sector of business is set to be, in our view, one of the key areas of growth for the printing and photographic industries in the UK and we are very pleased to adapt to this technology.

“Last year we installed additional Xerox print technology to enhance our digital printing credentials and help us promote Yorkshire as a centre of printing excellence.

“Along with the photobook software and the enhancements we have made to it, this provides us with a great foundation from which to drive this new division of our business forward.”

The brothers hope its experience as a specialist bookbinders and finishers will support Love Photo Books, which is available at http://lovephotobooks.com

Hollingworth & Moss discovered photobooks two years ago while on a research trip to the US.

They invested £250,000 in the software and want to develop the service as a major part of their business strategy, alongside the slogan “from laptop to table top”.

Customers can choose from several sizes, themes and templates and personalise their book by adding words, scrapbook images and different backgrounds to the images.

H & M sells the photobooks at prices from £17.49 plus VAT for a personalised, hard-bound 28-page document.

It also operates a thesis printing and binding service and a book scanning division.

It set up the Book Scan Bureau after purchasing Kirtas BookScan machines, which cost at least £100,000 each and were developed at Palo Alto Research Centre (formerly Xerox Parc) in California, which introduced and popularised the computer mouse in the 1970s.

The firm went on to become a reseller for Kirtas and trains institutions such as libraries to operate the equipment, as well as using the Kirtas machines itself.

Its binding work includes condolence and visitors’ books, clam shell presentation boxes and bound periodicals.

Richard Hollingworth said: “We have developed Love Photo Books because we want to expand.

“It is a natural progression for the business because we have a lot of hardware which can be applied to individual bindings.

“We just needed to invest in the software and the printing technology.”

Since the brothers joined the firm there has been a “seismic” shift in the nature of demand from universities, as students do more research online, Mr Hollingworth added.

“The libraries are not spending as much on periodicals. That is affecting our business – we traditionally bound quarterly or six or 12-monthly journals.

“This is why we are trying to think outside the box and develop the business.”

Paul Hollingworth said: “It’s one thing to print great photobooks, but they have to be finished to the highest standard. This is where our experience and skilled craftsmanship comes into play.”

The hi-tech firm has attracted interest from all over the world from people who wish to preserve or copy precious and often fragile documents.

Its robotic technology allows technicians to digitally scan books, preserving the contents, then convert them into PDF or word formats so that they can be reworked, amended and reprinted onto acid free archival quality paper, fully thread sewn and prepared to the same standard of hard case bound library binding.

Adele Peters, Love Photo Books project manager, said the innovation came from the risk of losing pictures which have been stored electronically.

“I have done it by having pictures on my laptop for years and then the hard drive went and I lost them all.

“This is about storing your memories.”

A major investment

Hollingworth & Moss was established in 1966 by Richard and Paul’s father, Michael, and his brother-in-law Peter Moss. Both men have since retired. It was the first company in Europe to offer automatic scanning technology.

Richard and Paul Hollingworth joined the firm more than two decades ago and became joint managing directors in 2004.

The firm has also worked with the National University of Ireland and University College London.

Its new £250,000 Love Photo Books service has been in development for a year. Richard Hollingworth said. “It is daunting to invest that kind of money. For a business of our size it is quite a big thing.”