More than 1,000 people toured the Thornbury factory during Open House
A working screen printing press, not a new digital system, drew the longest queue when more than 1,000 people toured Rock Posters in Thornbury during Open House Melbourne 2026.
Rock Posters has produced screen-printed street posters since 1986. Its refurbished SIAS automatic clamshell press still handles commercial jobs at the Thornbury factory, alongside a darkroom that remains part of the production line.
Visitors focused on a process that is now uncommon in much of the printing trade. The press handles work up to 1500mm by 1000mm, on materials ranging from 100gsm street poster paper to 5mm corflute.
That keeps the machine useful where digital printing has limits. Rock Posters uses it for fluoro colours outside the standard CMYK gamut, heavier ink coverage and the surface finish that screen printing leaves on a poster.
Screen printing still wins commercial work
The workflow is deliberately slow and hands-on. Staff coat screens with emulsion in the darkroom, separate colours, output film positives, expose each screen under UV light and wash it out before printing begins.
Then each colour needs its own pass through the press. As a result, a two-colour poster requires two full runs, which adds time and cost compared with standard digital production.
RMIT has its art show street posters screen printed most years. That ongoing work shows there is still demand for the method.
Luke Stewart, Rock Posters’ Artwork & Production Manager, said the limits can improve the result. “If you want to keep the print cost down, you’ve got to build the whole poster out of two colours, and that forces designers to work out how to get the most from the ones they choose. It’s always interesting to see what people come up with,” Stewart said.
General Manager Marcus Seal said the visitor response showed strong interest in physical production. During the open day, many visitors were surprised by how different the process is from standard printing in 2026 and how rarely they now see it.
Meanwhile, out-of-home advertising continued to grow. The Outdoor Media Association reported net media revenue of $385 million in Q2 2026, up 5.58%.
