Kayell going strong after 40 years

July 19, 2010: Kayell is celebrating 40 years in business this year – a rare milestone among Australian-owned, independent supply businesses.

Kayell began as a specialist supplier of professional photographic laboratory equipment in 1970, when John Koens and Hans Leijer merged the first letters of their surnames to make ‘Kayell’. Today, it’s a major supplier to the imaging and graphic arts markets.

Kayell has offices in Sydney and Melbourne as Kayell Australia Pty Limited and in Brisbane as Kayell Qld Pty Limited. Robert Gatto and Andreas Johansson are directors of Kayell Australia, with Paul Gilbert heading up Kayell Qld.

‘Kayell has survived every major change in the professional imaging industry by carefully choosing the right products, investing in training and service and being a dependable partner to our customers,’ said Kayell managing director, Robert Gatto.

‘We have always kept a clear head for business, employed knowledgeable staff and kept right up to date with technology.

‘These foundations were laid by John Koens and his team and are now continued through with the current owners.’

Kayell still maintains a very solid customer base in professional photography, but since 2000 the company has seen strong growth in the fine art, design and graphic arts markets, with some of Australia’s top printers, artists and designers using Kayell to provide colour management and technical services.

‘It’s all about imaging and following the data-flow with careful attention to detail,’ says director Andreas Johansson. ‘Whether images are for photographic or graphic arts applications, if you know what the objective is and have an eye for colour and resolution, the two are really the same today. You then need the right tools and training to get it right, and that’s where Kayell comes in.’
A look at Kayell’s exclusive and non-exclusive product offerings seems to confirm this, even after 40 years.

Kayell has distribution agreements, some exclusively, with world leading firms such as GMG Color, Datacolor, GTI Graphiclite, Eizo monitors, Elinchrom, Drobo, Canson, Gigapan, RedRock Micro and Lastolite. The company is also a major reseller partner for Epson, Apple, X-Rite, Adobe, Hasselblad, Canon, Nikon, Manfrotto and Sandisk, and runs regular onsite and group training programs with particular focus on colour management and workflow.

Photo Counter congratulates Kayell on its 40 years serving professional photographers and now the graphic arts industry.