By Peter Saunders
Early last year, the work of Ottawa-based Loudmouth Printhouse gained international attention. One of its wall murals was the monthly People’s Choice winner in printer/cutter supplier Roland DGA’s Creative Awards contest, as voted for by website visitors.
Named ‘The Devil Inside,’ the mural recreated an illustration commissioned by Upfront, a magazine based in Windsor, Ont., and drawn by artist George Rizok. It was scanned and vectorized using graphic design software developed by Ottawa-based Corel. Once the lines were cleaned up, the image was reproduced on a series of panels, using a 610-mm (24-in.) Roland cutter.
Each colour was cut, weeded, aligned and applied separately. It took 13 hours to assemble the 19 panels in seven colours of vinyl. The end result was a 4 x 3.8-m (13 x 12.5-ft) wall graphic.
Corel also highlighted Loudmouth owner Anis El Kassem on its website with blog posts before and after the Roland award, discussing how the software, cutter-plotters and other tools had allowed him to serve a diverse market from a modest base of operations.
“Being independent is the most important aspect of being an entrepreneur,” El Kassem told Corel in an interview. “I have the freedom to decide my hours based on selfish needs. I want to work a little, then go home and spend time with my family.”
Growing pains
A University of Windsor graduate, El Kassem was working evenings as a waiter when he began printing and cutting vinyl in his Ottawa basement eight years ago.
“It was mostly self-taught,” he says. “I did a lot of Googling to learn. I also had a friend in Windsor who ran a sign shop, so he gave me some tips.”
He bought two Roland vinyl cutters and specialized in small decals and wall art.
“My infant son was hanging from me in a Baby Bjorn carrier,” he says. “He would sleep through the whole thing!”
Having not yet branded his business as Loudmouth Printhouse, El Kassem sold to customers through 10 different online storefronts, including eBay and Etsy. The majority of his work in the early days was wall art for people’s homes, especially their children’s rooms and washrooms, while some other projects were for offices.
“I had hundreds of designs my customers could choose from,” he explains. “I would start work early in the morning, create six or seven projects, then drive to a Federal Express (FedEx) office to ship them. And I would ship anywhere, including the U.S. and overseas. Then I was done for the day!”
Three years ago, however, with the volume of orders increasing, he realized he would need more space to comfortably work on customized wall murals.
“My head was hitting the basement ceiling,” he says, “and the concrete walls and floor weren’t very forgiving. I envisioned a shop that would provide a larger workspace.”
Once he found a suitable 130-m2 (1,400-sf) two-level retail space in Ottawa’s Centretown neighbourhood, which had seen a recent construction boom, he discussed it with his wife. The timing seemed to be perfect, as their son was about to start daycare.
