We Went to the Make-Ready Printmaking Factory in London

From a garage in North London to a 25,000-square-foot industrial powerhouse, Make-Ready has quietly become the printmaking studio behind some of the biggest names in contemporary art. We went behind the scenes with founder Tom Murphy to see how George Condo, Ai Weiwei, and Mickalene Thomas get their prints made.

If you think the art world is all champagne receptions in Mayfair galleries, think again. Some of the most exciting art being made today happens in an industrial estate in North London, where the smell of ink mingles with the precision of Swiss engineering and the passion of master craftspeople.

From Garage to Art World Empire

"I always say to people, we were just really good at it," Tom Murphy tells me with characteristic understatement as we stand in what he claims is the world's largest dedicated fine art screen printing studio. "We're kind of like the carpenters of the art world—we were making cabinets, we were plumbing, we were building something."

The numbers are staggering. What started in Murphy's garage eight years ago has exploded into a 25,000-square-foot operation that's redefining what fine art printmaking can be. But this isn't just about scale—it's about pushing the boundaries of what a print can be.

The Magic Is in the Details

Watching printer Ewan work on a Lee Ufan piece, you quickly realize this isn't your typical printmaking operation. "These are not just facsimiles," Murphy explains as Ewan carefully adjusts colors and textures. "Where's the love? Where's the grit? This will be an artwork unto itself—almost like a live performance of the studio album."

The process is mesmerizing. Actual paint—thick, glossy, tactile paint—gets pushed through impossibly fine Swiss mesh. The result? Prints so convincing that even experts struggle to distinguish them from original paintings. "With the George Condo prints, we've blown a lot of people's minds," Murphy says. "A lot of people genuinely can't tell if it's a print or a painting."

The Science Behind the Art

Every detail matters at Make-Ready. The mesh alone could warrant a four-hour discussion—180 apertures per centimeter stretched at 21 newtons of tension across aluminum frames. The photo emulsion process involves UV light exposure measured by spectrum photometers. Even the storage room maintains precise temperature and humidity controls.

But for all the technical precision, Murphy insists on keeping things grounded: "The word 'match' is sort of banned here. We're not matching a red. We're making a print on paper that looks different, reflects light differently."

Where Craft Meets Innovation

The studio operates with an impressive 75-80% success rate, though Murphy admits some complex pieces can have failure rates of 30-40%. "We train people to be very, very astute and really look out for mistakes," he explains as Emma works the 1980s guillotine (complete with Blade Runner-esque display) that can cut through 25 prints at once.

The team inspects every single print with magnifying loops, marking the "X's" (misprints), "maybe's," and "good ones." It's this obsessive attention to detail that's built Make-Ready's reputation among the art world's most demanding artists.

Beyond Screen Printing

While screen printing remains the studio's signature, they've expanded into digital printing with the same artisanal approach. "Digital printing isn't just Apple P," Murphy notes, watching Anastasia work on a piece that can take hours to complete. "You can make something very haptic and tactile."

The philosophy remains consistent: whether it's a Patrick Caulfield-style bold color print or a textural masterpiece that mimics thick oil paint, each piece should stand as its own artistic statement.

The Human Element

Perhaps most striking about Make-Ready is how profoundly human the process remains. Despite the industrial setting and sophisticated equipment, everything comes down to skilled hands making micro-adjustments, experienced eyes spotting imperfections, and the almost childlike joy Murphy still feels "every time we get the ink out."

"There's something about it which is just very, very childlike—the unadulterated joy of ink being scraped into a screen," he says, grinning. "I think that's why we do it."

The Bigger Picture

From their North London base, Make-Ready ships finished works to Avant Arte’s Amsterdam warehouse, where they're packed with museum-quality care before reaching collectors worldwide. They regularly donate paper to Central Saint Martins (Murphy's alma mater) as a way to give back.

The client list reads like a who's who of contemporary art: George Condo, Ai Weiwei, Mickalene Thomas, Grayson Perry, and Shirin Neshat. Each presents unique challenges that the team approaches with equal parts technical precision and creative problem-solving.

Looking Forward

As we wrap up the tour, Murphy reflects on what makes Make-Ready special: "We're asking one question about a color: does it look good? Does it look sick, basically? And if yes, you go with your gut."

It's this combination of old-world craftsmanship, cutting-edge technology, and pure passion that's made Make-Ready the go-to studio for artists who refuse to compromise. In an art world often obsessed with concepts and theory, they've built their reputation on a simple principle: make it look amazing.

"Simply put, when we make prints at Make-Ready, we're not talking about concepts and theory. We're asking: does it look good?" Murphy says. "That's what we're about."

Make-Ready continues to push the boundaries of what's possible in printmaking from their North London studio, proving that sometimes the most innovative art happens not in white cube galleries, but in industrial estates where passion meets precision.

Stay tuned for our full proper sit-down interview with Tom - coming soon!