A visit to the printing press

There’s something quietly emotional about watching ink roll across paper; especially when you know the words were once just a Word doc on someone’s screen or began their journey as scribbled fragments in a notebook, waiting to be spun into something more substantial and enduring.

In a city (and country) that’s striding confidently towards a digital future, leaping towards the technologically advanced with screens and scrolling leading the way, it’s quite comforting to realise that printed books still matter. And more importantly, that they’re produced right here, by people who care deeply about both the craft and the business of publishing!

Earlier this week, a few of us from Motivate visited Al Ghurair Printing Press in Dubai. Our HR Team along with our Head of Production, Sunil, arranged the visit; a casual field trip of the old-school variety. The kind where you expect safety goggles and polite nods. What we got instead was a reminder of why we do this work in the first place.

We came away with a clearer understanding of just how intricate and technically impressive this process is. And with the appreciation of just how much goes on behind the scenes, from pre-press to delivery. We met the people behind the emails. The press-minders, operations managers, production leads, and colour specialists. They went from names in our inboxes to craftspeople, problem-solvers and partners.

In a region where innovation often gets conflated with the virtual, there’s something incredible about printing a book (or a magazine!) Publishing is often thought of as a solitary or screen-bound process. But standing there, surrounded by giant rolls of paper, colour proofs, and the scent of fresh print, you’re reminded that books are produced, not just written (and designed). And that there’s an entire community of people, from press operators to bindery staff, who bring our words and visuals into the world.

In a culture that values heritage and storytelling, the act of printing a book in Dubai feels meaningful. It’s not just about distribution; it’s about legacy. About holding something in your hands that started as a blank page and became a reflection of place, purpose, and people.

This country (and indeed the region) is investing heavily in culture; whether it’s museums, films, art or other media. It’s worth pausing to consider the silent engine behind much of this; the humble printing press.

Whether it is producing beautiful coffee-table books, memoirs and autobiographies, fiction titles that draw inspiration from the region’s heritage or even translations of academic publications or art catalogues, there is a thriving, humming local print production industry that supports the demand and the growth. That’s very heartening to learn about.

There’s a kind of poetry in the process, too!

I tried to capture it in photos, though I’m not sure they do it justice: the shuffle of oversized sheets, the precision of plates aligned by eye, the comforting scent of ink you didn’t realise you missed. It’s somewhere between Gutenberg and Gulf modernity.

We left the press feeling a little humbled. A little nostalgic. A little more connected, too. To the work, yes, but also to the people behind it.