Xylograf F. Hendriksen Medal

NARAYANA PRESS RECEIVES THE F. HENDRIKSEN MEDAL
AT THE ROYAL DANISH LIBRARY

The Xylograph F. Hendriksen Medal was presented at the Royal Danish Library on the 15th of June 2015 on the occasion of the annual awards event, and the exhibition of the best Danish-produced books of the year.

The following speech was given by Christian Kaaber, National Chairman for The Danish Book Arts Committee, on the occasion of presenting the Xylograph F. Hendriksen Medal to Narayana Press.

The Danish Book Arts Committee’s Xylograph F. Hendriksen Medal

The F. Hendriksen Medal is named after the main initiator of The Danish Book Arts Committee. Since 1963, it has been awarded to book publishers who ‘have made a special effort by releasing several well-made books’. ‘Several well-made books’ seems like an understatement in correlation with Narayana Press. In the exhibition which you will soon be able to enjoy, the large print shop in Gylling south of Aarhus was involved in almost half of the selected industrially produced books.

F. Hendriksen was a wood carver who worked his way up to become the most skilled in his field, and the best at everything to do with reproduction work. Narayana’s firm grip and reputation for thoroughness and high quality reproduction work in itself would definitely qualify for a medal bearing Hendriksen’s portrait. But Hendriksen also fought with relentless energy for Danish books to be craft quality products.

The programme declaration for his own work, and for The Danish Book Arts Committee which he founded in 1888, can be summarized like this: Although modern industry has made it easy to produce books, very many books, one should make every effort to ensure that factory-made books keep the highest possible standard of quality craftsmanship. For the benefit of the culture which they represent, but most importantly: For the benefit of the reader who will consume them, so to speak.

Quality requires hard work, and all the parties involved must make demands on themselves. Narayana Press, or rather the many professionals working here, have a very solid reputation for diligence, a humble attitude towards the tasks, and competent problem management – and for conscientious communication. Here, the company’s own history surely plays a part:

Since the late 1950s, when it all began around a small offset machine, and up to this day, with more than 100 highly qualified technicians operating ultra-modern graphic machinery, Narayana Press has kept pace with the technological revolution in the fields of reproduction and printing, at the same time preserving the accumulated experience from the whole period embedded in the company’s DNA.

A graphic designer who has produced many books together with Narayana over the years summarizes it like this: ‘They are always friendly and extremely good at both reproduction and printing, and you can really count on them, also to tell you if they wonder about something. This ought to be self-evident, but is not always the case.’

A commercially manufactured book emerges so to speak from a fusion of technology, hand and spirit. The people from Narayana Press are making a very substantial contribution to the versatile and qualitative book culture in today’s Denmark. For this you deserve a medal.

The diploma which will follow in connection with the prize is presented by the Director of the Royal Library, Erland Kolding Nielsen, and the National Chairman for The Danish Book Arts Committee, Christian Kaaber.