The world of printing is probably not one that you think of often, unless you’re in the industry or need something printing for your business. However, printing has come a long way throughout history, from the early days of printing on paper to the complex digital printing on a huge range of different surfaces. Here we celebrate printing by looking at some of the most impressive examples that have even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Longest Woodblock Print – The longest woodblock to make it into the book of world records was completed by Tatsuteru Kimijima of Japan in 2014. Tatsuteru took 4 years to complete the woodblock which measured 220.32 metres long and conveyed a message of world peace.
Smallest Printed Magazine Advert – The tiniest magazine advert was just 4.32 cm squared and
appeared in a magazine for Busted, a Netflix show in South Korea. It appeared in January 2021.
It was created to celebrate the final season of the series and appeared on page 64 of Variety magazine.
Biggest Letterpress Printing Machine – The world record for this belongs to Split Design Ltd and JKN Oiltools of Leeds, UK. The press is called The People Powered Press and it measures 1.63 metres squared when it was awarded the record in April 2019. The aim of the project is to print the words of local people to display on posters in the community.
Biggest Glass Print – Art on Glass of Sweden can take credit for this record. The largest glass print is 16 x 138 feet and the images are displayed on the Kungsbrohuset in Stockholm. Each image consists of 96 pieces of glass and the display was completed in June 2010.
First Car Printed Using 3D Technology – In Chicago in 2014, Strati developed the world’s first 3D printed car. It took 44 hours to print and is completely drivable! It was displayed at the International Manufacturing Technology Show.
Smallest Inkjet Printed Image – This record was set by a team from Zurich, Switzerland in October 2015. The tiny image measured just 0.0092 mm. The image was some clownfish and to qualify it had to contain 256 different colours as a minimum! For your printing needs, hopefully not being this small, consider Screen Printing Equipment from a site like www.mascoprint.co.uk/
Highest First Print Run For A Fiction Book – This world record is held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July 2007. The initial print run was 12 million copies making it the largest initial print run in history.
First 3D Printed Prosthetic Limb Used At Paralympics – Denise Schindler of Germany was the first ever paralympic cyclist to compete with a polycarbonate prosthetic right leg that had been 3D printed at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
First Person Sent To Jail For 3D Printing – Yoshitomo Imura was the first person to receive a prison sentence for 3D printing a revolver and uploading a YouTube video tutorial. He received a 2 year sentence in October 2014.
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