The CPL Fabbrika story began in 1982, when Franco Ratto, together with another partner, established “CPL”. The company was set up in Albissola Marina, just a few meters from the sea that laps against Italy’s Ligurian coastline. Initially, the company primarily worked in the fields of graphic design and communications.
However, over the next two decades, the business gradually shifted towards supplying equipment for screen printing.
Creative graphic design made way for absolute precision: when advertising for staff we were after people who could identify a 0.3 mm line with the naked eye.
In 2003, we launched our first e-commerce site under the brand name CPL Fabbrika.
Customers loved the ease with which they could simply order their screenprinting screens online: they just had to choose the size, send us the graphics files, and within a couple of days all the material they needed was delivered to their front door. Today this is completely normal, but in 2003 it seemed like something out of a science fiction novel.
And today, our team continues to assist all our customers: algorithms might be useful in certain circumstances, but they can never be a substitute for people.
Since 2003 we’ve responded to thousands of e-mails from our customers and, just as importantly, from those who aren’t our customers. We don’t differentiate, that’s what we’ve always been recognized for: it’s important for us to share our knowledge.
Over the years we came to realise that some of the questions were really interesting: so, we started posting them, along with the answers, on our online blogs, thus enabling dozens of screen printers and printers to find the answers to even their smallest doubts.
We even started designing and developing our own screen printing equipment.
Indeed, it’s always been our belief that a screen printing workshop shouldn’t just be possible for a handful of people with plenty of money to spend. But we’ve also never been fans of low-cost, low-quality equipment.
So, we decided to take a fresh approach, and today the equipment and accessories designed by CPL Fabbrika are renowned and loved for being “no-frills and long-lasting” (comments from our customers can be read here).
On the back of all this experience, our founder, Franco Ratto, wrote a screen printing manual, which has received rave reviews, particularly from those who are just starting out in screen printing.
Today, CPL Fabbrika produces and sells more than seven thousand products throughout Europe, serving printers and screen printers across the entire continent. Each and every day we communicate with customers via e-mail in four different languages, answer dozens of technical and sales inquiries, and collaborate with schools, artists, small businesses and major companies.
Seeing those who’ve chosen us gradually grow and build their workshops over time – for us, there’s simply no greater satisfaction.