A History of Canvas Print Co

From our humble beginnings of supplying prints to our friends and family, Canvas Print Co has transformed into a nationwide supplier of premium quality stretched canvas prints.  We aim to please, and this shines through in everything we do because we put love, care and thought into each step of the process.  Every customer should have a positive and enjoyable experience, not just in their first encounter, but on an ongoing basis.

We have a great group of people that help us to achieve our goals every day so let’s meet the team.

Canvas Print Co Team

Craig_&_Sandy_CanvasPrintCoTeam
BeFunky Collage (half size)

Bongeka, Sizwe and Knowledge are the very talented guys who put together our products with care and precision.  Bongeka handles assembly and packaging, Sizwe stretches our canvas products and Knowledge makes our frames.  They are all skilled in each other’s crafts and are able to assist in the various departments when ever we have a large order to produce.

Zandile, Jessica and Lauren fulfill the design and admin roles.   Zandile is our awesome Graphic Designer and is always full of smiles.  Jess is your first point of contact on phones, she also handles all courier correspondence and assists with debtors and creditors.  Lauren is our digital content creator for our blog, newsletters and social media – she’s the one you’ve been chatting to on Facebook 🙂

Getting to Know the Founders

A little Q & A session is a great way to get to know people.  We sat down with Craig and Sandy and asked the usual questions, then threw in a few random curve-balls to see what they would say.

What drew your interest to canvas printing?

Sandy:  We wanted to deal directly with our customers.  It’s a beautiful product and provides a great connection to people’s memories and experiences.  Seeing those printed for them to keep makes them happy, which in turn makes us happy.  It’s not only our customers that walk away with something, we receive a great satisfaction from what we’ve done and it really energizes us and inspires us to do more.

Where and when did Canvas Print Co get its start?

Craig:  We had been talking about canvas printing and researching the idea for a while and then decided to make it happen after we got married.  We started working out of a friend’s garage in 2012 and built up a regular customer base over about a year or so before expanding into an office/workshop space in Glenashley, Durban.  It was here that we added to the team by taking on a few people to help with the design and manufacturing.  The location was great and gave us the opportunity to have signage facing the road, which just helped us to get more exposure.  We moved to our own premises in April 2016 where we have continued to grow and we have a little more space to stretch our creative legs.

At the beginning, who did what?

Craig:  My family has over 30 years experience in the signage industry and I worked in the family business for about 10 years before changing focus with Sandy.  This provided us with a great starting point and I took charge of the manufacturing.  I did all of the canvas stretching, assembly and packaging myself, while also building an online footprint for our business and developing our website.

Sandy:  My psychology background was really helpful in researching what people want and putting a plan together to handle customer communications and satisfaction.  I have a real passion for people so it made sense for me to handle the social media, marketing, sales and design process.

Tell us about your brand colour choice – why pink?

Sandy:  Soft pink represents love for us, and love is the most important aspect of what we do.  We love what we do, we love hearing the amazing feedback from satisfied customers and we love giving our customers something that they can treasure.

What is your favourite part of your job?

Craig:  I’m a bit of a perfectionist so seeing perfect, meticulous work leaving our workshop on a daily basis is great.  Maintaining our high quality standards and ensuring seamless production (as often as possible) ensures that we provide an immaculate end product.  It is very rewarding.

Sandy:  I love the satisfaction of seeing someone’s ideas and inspirations come to life.  Being a part of the sales process allows me to be a part of the job through from start to finish, and experience the joy a client has when they receive their project in real life.

Do you have any plans for the future?

Craig:  Absolutely – we never stop dreaming!  We’d love to get into a retail space and continue to grow Canvas Print Co and perfect our processes.  There is always room for improvement.  With a bit of luck and hard work, we will see ourselves with a global footprint in the near future.

Why e-commerce instead of a store?

Craig:  I am passionate about e-commerce.  It allows people to acquire so much more than what is on offer in their local shops.  It provides unlimited access to what is out there, locally and internationally.  E-commerce has made it easy for people to click through the order process, pay online and then we deliver directly to their doorstep.

If money and career were no object then what would you do – you have someone filling in for you for a year?

Craig:  I have a book of ideas that I would take off the shelf.  I’d love to work on another passion project to bring more opportunity with e-commerce to small towns.  Making people’s lives easier is a general theme with most of my ideas.  I would also love to sit in a workshop inventing new products and processes all day long.

Sandy:  Rescue dogs and drink good wine 😉

Do you have a particular place that you visit for inspiration – actual place or virtual?

Craig:  People are inspiring.  That’s what I love about the internet – you can connect with so many people with interesting ideas and concepts.  The internet is a great source of inspiration and enables people from all over the world to connect.

Sandy:  Honestly, I have always found a sense of peace and comfort in the Drakensburg Mountains.  It is my favourite place in the whole world to open up some serious creativity taps.

Is there something on your bucket list that you have not done BUT would do in a heartbeat if given the opportunity?

Craig:  I would love to do a world trip across all continents.

Sandy:  This is a dream that I share with my Dad – I would love to hop in an RV and road trip from the East Coast of the USA to the West Coast.

If you could choose ONE superpower, what would it be and why?

Craig:  To be able to teleport anywhere in the world.

Sandy:  The ability to control the weather.  Imagine how much good we could do if the weather conditions were always “just right”.  No floods, no droughts, no more devastation and destruction.

Are you a reader? What genre & do you have a book on your shelf that is just begging to be read?

Craig:  I actually love audio books.  I’ve always absorbed more when listening to something and it also a great opportunity to put earphones in and just get lost in my thoughts.

Sandy:  I am!  I love War Epics and Fantasy.  Currently I have a book lying next to my dressing table that I started before Hayden was born but am yet to finish!

If you could learn a new skill today, what would it be?  (not related to current work)

Craig:  To cook and be inventive (successfully) in the kitchen.

Sandy:  I’d become a Yoga Instructor for Children.

Toilet paper – over or under?

Craig:  OVER!

Sandy:  I have no preference, as long as the person who finishes the roll REPLACES IT!  Haha.

canvas print co Q&A session

What did you want to be when you were a kid?

Craig:  I want to be an inventor when I grow up 🙂

Sandy:  A Psychologist – I have wanted to become one since I knew what the word meant.  It’s still a dream I hope to achieve one day.

Is there anything you would like to say to your customers and followers?

Our customers mean everything to us, and we go above and beyond to deliver happiness to them.

We are just two individuals with a passion for creativity – creativity makes us happy.  We owe a huge thanks to our community for joining us on this epic journey, and we hope that you’ll stick around and continue to be a part of our story.

All our love
xx

Psssst… We are having a flash sale this week!
Visit our Facebook page to get your hands on the 20% off coupon code and place your order online ASAP.
The sale is on until midnight on Friday 22 September 2017.

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