Jagdamba Arts
Complete solution provider
Subhash Sharma
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Right from car number plates to jumbo size outdoor banners, Jagdamba Arts is known for producing quite a diverse range of signage items in best of qualities. When inquired about the company’s establishment, proprietor Subhash Sharma recollects that in the year 1987 he and his team of sign makers opened Jagdamba Arts as a small painting shop. “We manually painted on canvas and other materials to craft any kind of signage and display items for both interior and outdoor applications,” he explains. He further asserts that the activities at Jagdamba Arts also used to involve in model making for which the Government of Himachal Pradesh awarded them with the ‘Best Artist’ accolade in 1989.
Onset of the era of digital cutting and printing has pushed Jagdamba Arts into a new direction. “The signage industry has changed a lot over the last few years. Ever since we adopted a Roland CAMM-1 cutting plotter from Apsom Infotex, the first machine in our production facility, our portfolio keeps expanding with continuous additions of new machines and printers,” says Subhash. As on today, the infrastructure of Jagdamba Arts is equipped with a Thunderjet eco-solvent from Mehta Cad Cam Systems; Lotus solvent (Gray model with XAAR printhead); Konica Minolta bizhub and some finishing machines.
“Landmark expansion in our machine portfolio took place from the year 2011 onward. As long as we are equipped with complete range of machines and printers, our customers are happy to the broad spectrum of end products we offer,” mentions Subhash. Now, the big-fat activities of Jagdamba Arts include anything under the sun, such as modular signs, radium stickers, one-way vision displays, blacklit signs, to mention the major ones. Among the clients who regularly drop in at Jagdamba Arts include Mahindra & Mahindra and other auto companies as well as a tide of walk-in customers.
Subhash opines that Shimla has a big business potential that can be tapped only if the signage players in the city are well equipped with sophisticated machines and technologies. He reveals that the machine portfolio of Jagdamba Arts will be updated soon with the addition of a brand new CNC router and the company’s current production team of five will also be magnified. But the company’s overall installation tasks will remain outsourcing to third parties as it does today.
Kawasaki Advertisers
Valued for quality production
Rajeev Kuthiala
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What’s in the name? There’s nothing authentic about being Japanese in Kawasaki Advertisers, one of Shimla’s oldest and most popular sign makers. Then the little logic that sneaked behind the use of the term ‘Kawasaki’ in the name of the company is something connected to Japan in an indirect way. Finding out the fact, Rajeev Kuthiala, co-founder, Kawasaki Advertisers explains, “There was nothing in terms of machines and technologies when we started our company in 1979. We were simply painters who manually painted outdoor posters, signboards, portraits, etc before the advent of all these printers or machines we use today. However, we were very much impressed by the stories of advanced technologies that Japan invented in the auto, printing and graphic imaging sectors. Such inspiration finally instilled my brother to give our company the name Kawasaki Advertisers.”
Technologically the big turning point at Kawasaki Advertisers took place in the year 1995 when adoption of a Roland cutting plotter eventually chopped down the company’s manual efforts and enhanced efficiency in overall outputs to a new level or standard. “We took financial loan to open our production facility. I don’t know whether it should be called a destiny or something else, had it not been the arrival of Airtel and Reliance Communication mobile services in Himachal Pradesh in the early 2000s we would have not been able to pull ourselves to where we stand today,” narrates Rajeev adding that they prepared thousands of outdoor banners of different sizes to be flaunted across the state for promotional campaigns of the two newly launched mobile phone services. A production team of half a dozen experienced sign makers burnt midnight oil to design, cut and construct the display items which they finished within a given timeframe.
Steadily crawling up from one level to another, Kawasaki Advertisers is today boasting its state-of-the-art production facility where equipped an exclusive range of machines comprising Roland eco-solvent, Caldron solvent, Spirit laser engraver and a CNC router. Most of the company’s major customers are from banking and financing sectors. Punjab National Bank (PNB), State Bank of India (SBI), State Bank of Patiala and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) are some of the regular customers which have been in Kawasaki Advertisers’ roster for years.
“In addition to corporate clients, our clientele include some local cultural and tourist organisations for them we keep executing seasonal projects of different sizes during festive or holiday seasons. Such activities keep us busy all the time since Shimla or Himachal Pradesh provides us enough workload throughout the year,” says Rajeev. On the company’s expansion move in future, he reveals that they are planning for a next step development to adopt advanced printers/machines and navigate upon the new market parameters in the neighbouring towns.
Rahul Sharma Advertisers
Where only creativity works
Rahul Sharma
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One can hardly believe the big activities at the small shop of Rahul Sharma Advertisers operating from a narrow by-lane on a hill slope amid the busy Ram Nagar market in Shimla. Owning not a single machine or printer at all, what all this signage company owns is ‘artistic skill’. “We are a team of artists. We don’t indulge in printing. Some PSPs in Shimla with infrastructures of eco-solvent printers provide us the print requirements,” explains Rahul Sharma, founder-proprietor, Rahul Sharma Advertisers. What makes this sign shop so popular in the region’s signage circle? That’s their work!
Rahul Sharma Advertisers closely works for Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and Department of Agriculture, Government of Himachal Pradesh for a number of projects carried out regularly in large scales. “We are regularly assigned some landmark signage and display projects. For example, we take part in the construction of state tableaus being showcased at Republic Day parades in New Delhi. In addition, we also fabricate the state pavilion at the ITPO Trade Fair held in November every year at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi,” mentions Rahul.
A strong team of half a dozen experienced and skilful artists has been instrumental for overall creative outputs at Rahul Sharma Advertisers. The company’s activities since its establishment around 12 years ago keep augmenting. Apart from its large-scale projects for the big clients, walk-in customers come to the shop for stickers, name plates, screen-printed graphics and others which people from different walks of life enjoy the choices. “We treat all big and small customers with equal amount of love and care,” mentions Rahul adding, “Our client base is very much confined around the local geographies of Shimla.”
On quality control, Rahul says they always opt for premium materials and printing technologies. “Our desire is always fulfilled when we select Starflex printed on an eco-solvent machine which one of our partner PSPs in the town has installed in their production facility,” says Rahul.
On plan to open the company’s own production facility, he mentions their current focus in now on ‘creative designs’ and adoption of machines may take place only after a big plan.
Uday Raj Advertiser
Wider than others
Uday Kapoor
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With their vast network of operations across Shimla, Solan and Baddi, services and end-products of Uday Raj Advertisers cover whole width and breadth of Himachal Pradesh. “Perhaps we must be the only PSP covering all over Himachal Pradesh in an exclusive way,” articulates Uday Kapoor of Uday Raj Advertiser Pvt Ltd. Of course, branches of the company in Shimla alone are dotted at three different locations. Such extensive presence of this four years old signage firm in Shimla has helped them serve their customers in the swiftest manner around the state across rough mountainous terrains where transportation is always being hindered.
Little ahead of others in the region, Uday Raj Advertiser boasts of its manpower and infrastructure. A team of 20 well-experienced professionals is behind the competency and proficiency in the company’s print production, fabrication and installation jobs. And marvel in the state-of-the-art production facilities of the company is the portfolio of printers, comprising Roland 640 cut & print and two Caldron CJ printers. “We keep observing the trend picking up in the current market. As per the pulse of market, we always go for new machineries or technologies,” mentions Uday.
Located at a pivotal spot on Mall Road, lobby of Uday Raj Advertiser is always a crowded arena where buzz of customers from varied industrial clusters and walk-in horde from different walks of life is a common sight. A few big names among the clientele of the company include BHEL, Infotech and others. Uday mentions that their whopping team of experienced professionals handles everything right from printing, fabrication, deliveries and up to installations under any circumstances in a given timeline.
UV printing, which is now at bay for PSPs in Shimla, will be considered to be part of the next step development at Uday Raj Advertiser. In this respect, Uday remarks that it may take some time to get into the high-level technological update in their infrastructure. He observes that the signage market of Shimla is moving in a slow pace. But he is optimistic about demand for newer technologies in the market to be picked up soon and Uday Raj Advertisers is expected to be getting on the trend soon.
Creative Advertisers & Printers
To the high-end needs
Deepak Gera
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Engineer-turned signage professional Deepak Gera of Creative Advertisers & Printers never imagined he would someday be in this lucrative industry. He passionately shares his story, “Since many of my cousins in Delhi have been into printing business, it was them who inspired me to give a try for a brand new business in this new but exciting industry.” Exciting for a reason that he found room of creativity in the industry, but he confusingly stood at a crossroad wondering whether he would make it out in a successful way. No matter what it obscured him for a while, Deepak finally fulfilled the desire in graphic designing for signage and display prints. In the year 2004, Creative Advertisers & Printers was formally opened to provide signage solutions, particularly designs and concepts.
“We used to print display graphics with an entry-level Nutek printer in 2007. Since we have been handling projects for big corporate clients, quality prints play main forte of our activities and high-end machines are not choices but compulsion in this respect. However, as long as the volume of works available in the current Shimla market is measured, we are not in a position to invest in high-end machines like HP Scitex or others of the kind. So, we resolve this situation by joining hands with some good old PSPs based in Punjab who own quality machines and are able to help us get best of quality prints to meet the demands of corporate clients,” asserts Deepak.
Some of the big clients of Creative Advertisers & Printers include Reliance Life Insurance, Usha, Airtel and other corporate companies. In connection to owning a state-of-the-art production facility, Deepak says they currently do the right things by outsourcing their print jobs. “Outsourcing is rather better than producing sub-standard outputs at one’s own production setup,” he opines. However, he remarks that every signage player in Shimla dreams of owning well-equipped production facilities in the years to come.
Deepak-led team of four signage professionals at Creative Advertisers & Printers is now endeavouring to deliver best quality designs and prints for corporate biggies. Sharing his concern about impetus in the signage market, he truly mentions that eco-solvent and UV technologies will rule the region’s market in the days to come. His vision of a production set-up at Creative Advertisers & Printers is a division where all advanced technologies are accumulated together to pacify the needs of corporate customers around Shimla.
Ajeet Graphics
Catcher of changing trends
Ajeet Singh and Pritpal Singh
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Emerged in the 1960s as one of the most sought after painters in Shimla, undying inheritance of Ajeet Graphics is still alive and kicking in a different swing even in this era of digital printing. The main architect behind the creation of this signage company in 1962 was Ajeet Singh, who later joined by his son Pritpal Singh. “My father moved from Delhi to Yamuna Nagar and finally settled down in Shimla following the establishment of Ajeet Graphics,” says Pritpal. He adds, “After BFA at Government College of Fine Art in Chandigarh, I joined my father’s sign making business in the mid-1990s.”
Quality, consistency in outputs at Ajeet Graphics gained a new standard when the company adopted a Roland CAMM Pro cutting plotter from Apsom Infotex. Patting the plotter, Pritpal says the machine triggered their business momentum to a new direction. “Over the last eight years, we have upgraded our production facility as well as PR activities in accordance to the changes and trends sweeping across the industry,” he asserts. In order to cover Himachal Pradesh to a complete manner, Ajeet Graphics opened a separate production division in Ghanahatti, located around a few kilometers from Shimla city , where a Caldron printer is installed.
“Since projects of corporate clients in Shimla city are directly executed by big signage firms from Chandigarh and Delhi, we pay little attention on pan-India projects and our focus is exclusively on local public sector organisations or departments as well as regular walk-in customers,” tells Pritpal. Mention of some of the major clients of Ajeet Graphics will include AIDS Control Society, Directorate of Health, DC Office, etc whose campaigns have been carried out all around Himachal Pradesh. A team of 14 well-trained sign making professionals handles the company’s A-Z activities which include printing, fabrications, installations and related tasks. Signifying the fact that the signage market of Shimla is now in a nascent stage where big opportunities are not yet properly exploited, Pritpal has a vision to upgrade the company’s production facility to a new level in which high-end machines and technologies will be installed to attract corporate biggies. He observes that tourist destinations like Shimla can be beautified in a most ever impressive manner using innovative signage works which have not
been implemented so far.
Elegance
A difference amid crowd
Sidhanth Bali
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When it comes to finding maker of trendy and stylist signage or display items in Shimla, the hunt will come to an end at Elegance, a one-stop signage corner located strategically in the upmarket Mall Road in the city and known for delivering elegant array of display solutions for both indoor and outdoor environments. While tracing the mantra behind the company’s outstanding jobs, Sidhanth Bali, founder, Elegance answers very simply that there is nothing superficial in delivering finest range of signage and display items. “That requires just tactics to carry out things a bit differently from what others do. Fancy restaurants, in-shop surroundings and other parameters in this domain have been where we have accomplished a number of standout display projects,” he adds.
Apart from the projects based on state government tenders, Elegance has been working for corporate biggies as well as some chic outlets in and around Shimla. Honey Hut is one of the cosy eating corners on Mall Road which Elegance has incarnated to a new avatar using backlit displays. “We choose finest materials of LEDs, sun-boards, acrylics, vinyl to craft backlit promotional displays that normally use in storefronts,” says Sidhanth. He mentions the smartness of a display item depends very much on concept, construction and finishing touch.
Elegance maintains a tradition of quality since its inception in 1996. Customers enjoy the company’s whole gamut of quality prints comprising documents, banners, posters and many more. In this respect, Sidhanth mentions that Elegance is known to many for their multi tasking activities. “In order to segregate our multiple activities, we have a separate division called Vision Grafix to take care of in-shop branding, interior designs and displays,” says Sidhanth. Key equipments running currently at Elegance to craft the elegant display items are a large-format Epson printer, Mach CNC router and other finishing and commercial printing machines.
“Now we have joined hands with some good printing presses and PSPs in Punjab which deliver wonderful range of UV-printed items,” mentions Sidhanth adding that Elegance’s future plan is to adopt UV technologies. But he arguably mentions that people (customers) are not ready to afford for such quality prints. “It’s our duty to take initiatives in educating customers about the advantages of these advanced technologies constantly surfacing in the market.” So, Elegance is now in a mode to add more to its range of revolutionary outputs.
Shimla Art Service
Always on the traditional path
Gurdeep Singh
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There is still room for the value of creatively crafted signage items in this era of ultra-modern machines and technologies. Shimla Art Service is the proven fact for this pragmatism. Having been actively operating in Shimla since 1972, this sign making corner has been maintaining its age-old tradition of painting, crafting and fabricating signs or display items only through manual practices with a little help from machines or printers. Gurdeep Singh, proprietor, Shimla Art Service says he acknowledges the market revolution sweeping across the industry from time to time with the advents of sophisticated routing, engraving and printing technologies. “However, we still enjoy our old way of sign making even in this high-tech era,” smiles Gurdeep.
What are the machines or printers used at Shimla Art Service? Just a Zig-Zag cutting machine! “We tie-up with some good PSPs which own router cutting machines and they help us fulfil our requirements,” says Gurdeep. Display items being crafted at Shimla Art Service are predominantly modular signs, engraved stone plates, brass letters, wooden displays, vinyl and acrylic-based signboards, etc. Gurdeep exclaims that they are not the typical company which people call it ‘flex printer’. “Our jobs are revolved primarily around custom-made displays for interior applications,” he adds.
Mentioning of some regular customers for whom Shimla Art Service has been working for years for special interior signs and display applications around the city will include a number of reputed schools. “Some select schools in Shimla assign us to fabricate their interior displays and signs in classrooms, auditoriums, corridors and campuses,” explains Gurdeep. Bishop Cotton, St Peter’s School, St Thomas are some among the set of reputed schools for whom the dedicated four-man team of Shimla Art Service provides the needs and requirements. “Even we are involved in decorating stages and event venues for annual fetes, celebrations, festivals for these schools,” says Gurdeep.
On the question of joining the way sign makers these days are using advanced printers and machines, Gurdeep nods to the trend, but he wants people to always remember Shimla Art Services as a corner where the tradition of hand-made signs still survives in its old and unique fashion. He says the essence of signage is very much determined by the creativity in the first place and machines or printers come later
to craft it.
New Era Graphics
On the new way ahead
Rajtu Hari Singh
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The signage market of Shimla is quite truncated from the updated technologies and advanced machineries using extensively in the production facilities of big sign makers in major cities of the country. This is a concern which New Era Graphics, a commercial printing company whose entry into the signage segment is just a few months old, keeps under its radar to take it forward for further consideration. “It must be just around 20 percent of the total signage jobs in Shimla being produced locally around the city. The rest comes either from Delhi or Punjab,” mentions Rajtu Hari Singh, proprietor, New Era Graphics. He urges large-format printers in the city to unite together for a measure or policy to fill this shortage in quality of locally produced outputs.
Rajtu is filled with the zeal of prospects revolving around the printing industry, including the large-format segment. Telling about his early footsteps into printing business reminds him of those days when he was working as a marketing executive at The Indian Express and The Himalayan Times and started seeing the lucrative side of the printing industry. “We began our business totally focusing on pre-press jobs that include designing, colour proofing and others,” says Rajtu. Year after year, New Era Graphics keeps expanding its printing activities ever since its inception in 1999.
On the company’s share of signage business, Rajtu explains that they were attracted to the large-format printing segment to fulfil the needs of their clients who regularly come down for commercial prints and started additionally demanding for posters and large display graphics. Those clients for which New Era Graphics has been handling quite a number of signage projects are IGNOU, Himachal Pradesh University, Forest Department and others. “We are contracted for annual events and occasions of Himachal Pradesh University’s different departments. For example, English Department always comes to us for any sort of display work – whether it is stage
craft, outdoor campaign or whatever,”
asserts Rajtu.
“Since we don’t own any wide-format printer, some good PSPs around Shimla help us get the finest prints for our customers. We have a team of five among which three are designers,” says Rajtu adding that they are attempting to make their sign making tasks bigger and more favourable to customers. Offering their certain services like ‘graphic designing’ free of cost, Rajtu opines that growth in the local market will come only when the regional players can bring smiles of satisfaction to the lips of customers.
Kaushal Arts
A house of multiple tasks
Rohit Thakur
DP Kaushal
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Everyone around the town simply calls it ‘car accessories shop.’ They seem unaware of what all other activities are running on at Kaushal Arts. Well, this car accessory shop, as people call it, rather involves in many other things than just selling car stickers, perfumes, seat covers, etc. In fact, this shop is a sign making corner for many in the local. Brain behind all it carrying out at Kaushal Arts is the talent of DP Kaushal, a painter, sign maker and founder of the company, who finally expands his car accessories shop to a multi-tasking corner where customers of all kinds for signage and display arts can also be buzzed around.
Hand-painted posters, modular signs, cut letters, flex prints, vehicle name plates, personalised name plates, fancy car stickers are some of the products for which Kaushal Arts is known to many local people. “Majority of our clients are from Shimla only. But those outstation clients from other parts of Himachal Pradesh, who have been impressed by our creations, sometimes come down to our shop to order customised items of their choices,” tells Rohit Thakur of Kaushal Graphics.
Machines behind all that arrays of display items available at Kaushal Arts are just a MyJet cutting plotter and a ColorJet solvent printer. Stressing on the company’s quality control measures, Rohit says the selection of best printing materials and a little bit of creativity can add magic to their outputs. He asserts about Kaushal Arts looking insistently ahead to producing wider range of signage and display items to magnify the volume of production and choices for their customers in near future.
Print Media
New player in the block
Sanju Kumar, Rabi Kumar and Hem Chand
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Co-existence of new and old PSPs under a mutual bond of understanding is the splendour of the signage market of Shimla. New PSPs like Print Media in the city are barely one year old. But it gets on the ring with high enthusiasm to venture into a bigger world with rapid updates of their machine portfolio from time to time, responding to the market demands. Located in a tucked way area of Ghanahatti, around a few kilometers from Shimla city, Print Media is now looking at a long way ahead for new opportunities. “Now, we receive orders only from local walk-in customers. But our plan is to rope in some big clients in the coming years,” says Hem Chand.
When asked about the establishment of Print Media, Hem narrates his involvement and experience in the signage industry over the last eight years. He had been working in one of the well-known PSPs in Shimla. Seeing the treasure of market potential lying unexplored in Shimla as well as whole Himachal Pradesh, he switched to Print Media, one of the promising signage corners established just recently with the installation of a MyJet solvent printer (with XAAR printhead).
A team of four experienced printing professionals handles every activity carrying out under the roof of Print Media. “We are now just a small team handling everything under a single gambit, be it designing, printing, fabrication and installations. In the years to come, we will surely expand our activities with the adoption of advanced/updated printers,” mentions Hem. On their choice of technologies, he shares that they will first go for eco-solvent printer, which is a new demand among their customers now and further updates may take place as per the demands and trends in the market.
Atharva Advertiser & Graphics
Young talents on the rise
Rajan Guleria and Nitin Kapoor
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Yet another signage firm reckoned in the block of young PSPs in Shimla is Atharva Advertiser & Graphics, which is led by Rajan Guleria, a young leader of a group of younger talents comprising a couple of graphic designers, machine operators and others. “We are a group of 10 staffers segregated into different divisions to handle our diverse activities,” he says. While talking about the company’s projects and activities, Rajan affirms that they are now just at the doorway to the industry and their activities mean just a little.
Current production setup of Atharva Advertiser & Graphics is equipped with a ColorJet solvent printer and they indulge in production of LED glow signs, outdoor hoardings, event and exhibition stands. “We are now observing and figuring out the current market scenario from different angles to tap fresh opportunities,” says Rajan adding, “Compared to the established markets like Delhi and Chandigarh, Shimla is just at a budding stage. But we can sense a lot of prospects here that can be tapped in future.”
Customers who turn up at Atharva Advertiser & Graphics are predominantly local individuals coming for personal items. “Prosperity or growth in the region’s market will take place only when the existing signage companies are fully equipped with advanced machineries,” opines Rajan. He explains UV technology is still a far dream for PSPs in Shimla, but other innovative activities including LED display systems are something that can be exploited for new ventures in the region’s signage landscape.
