Decorator Profile Printing at the edge of the map
When Jon Chapman swapped Guildford for Orkney, he didn’t just change postcode – he changed his business model and way of life. Now operating arguably the UK’s most northerly garment decoration business, acting editor Benjamin Austin, spoke with the man about how printing at 59° North has brought both challenges and unexpected rewards.
Jon Chapman standing with his DTF machine installed by The Magic Transfer Company
W income.
Yet for Jon Chapman, a want for change caused just that as he decided to upsticks from his roots to start life anew, providing printing services from one of the most northerly regions of the country.
From a base on a remote Orkney Island, Jon runs 59° North, after moving there at the start of Lockdown in 2020. He said: “literally the day Boris locked down the country was the day we got off the ferry and landed in Orkney. “But it meant for the next year or so we were stuck here and able to build a big barn from which we could run the business. “By the time we were ready to do the work, people were heading back to work, and it all met in the middle.”
The relocation
Jon’s roots are in Surrey where, 35 years ago, he started learning his trade as a printer while studying for a different direction at college.
He said: “I was training to be an architect and got a Saturday job at a printer company in Guildford, and then ended up spending half my life printing drawings for architects. “Then there was a massive recession, so I ended up quitting college and started full-time at the print place. That led to me, after 10 years, thinking I could do a better job on my own, so I set up my own business, and it has grown and shrunk as the market changes.
“We have had many customers, both big and small, having worked with major car brands and housing brands that people
| 34 | March 2025 Printed souvenirs by 59° North
would know, I won’t name them to be on the safe side, but some very fast, red cars and four-wheel drive off-road cars.” Having grown and shrunk the business several times by the turn of the decade, Jon was looking for a new chapter. The idea of leaving the South East didn’t begin as a firm plan. “It just popped up – we were in the Highlands camping 15 years ago, and we did a Rightmove search, thinking this is nice, we could live here.
“Orkney popped up, and we didn’t really know where it was, so we came here in our motorhome to have a nosey around.” “There were some businesses that interested me that were up for sale as well, so we came back to have a look, and we realised we didn’t need to buy anyone else out – we could do our own thing.”
“The house prices were cheap enough to use the equity from houses down south to actually have a decent nest egg to start something new and fulfil your dreams.”
Today, the structure is deliberately lean. “Now it is just me working from a building I own next to my house, so there are no overheads apart from the power it costs to run.”
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
e all look for major change in our lives as we wish to shake up the status quo. But rarely do we want a major change in our
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