Back in 1971, a small printing company started up in a shop front in Southend-on-Sea. Fifty years later and Formara continues to be a thriving business, just a little more modern than the days of the Multilith 1250 printing press that the company started with.

The warm, friendly approach to the way Formara conducts business has been welcomed by everyone around us. This culture has underpinned the success of the company, which has built an enviable reputation as a business that people love working with, both as suppliers and customers. Investments through the years have helped Formara stay ahead of the game. We embrace technology and the way it supports our desire to answer the challenges faced by our customers.

A lithographic printing company through the 70s and 80s, Formara invested heavily in a raft of finishing and binding options. We added digital print capability through the 90s and started variable data printing as we approached the year 2000. Direct mail arrived at Formara in 2000 with the addition of inserting lines to our finishing armoury. In 2016 we invested in a multi-channel marketing suite to support our customers drive to communicate through personalised print and e-mail.

Formara’s ability to adapt and rise to any challenge that comes our way has given us a competitive advantage through the years. This has led to us being privileged enough to work with some of the biggest organisations in the UK and beyond. Organisations such as Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO – later The Stationery Office), Ford Motor Company, Rover Cars, Shell, British Airways, UCL and BSI have all entrusted Formara with their work. However, we were equally comfortable working with the many small to medium size charities and businesses we are fortunate enough to be able to help.

The dawning of the digital era in the 90’s and 2000’s saw the biggest challenge to Formara as businesses moved many of the documents they had previously printed to CD and, ultimately, online. In typical Formara style, we embraced the challenge and diversified to offer a wider variety of services including personalised print, direct mail, fulfilment and we were probably one of the only printers in the UK to employ 2 programmers working on database driven solutions for our customers.

In short, the technological revolution affected our print business but we not only survived, we thrived to become the technically advanced multi-channel communications business we are today. Formara continues to provide a wide range of services to a client base that spans many different sectors including market research, local authorities, universities, banks and charities amongst others. Print4London.com, our online brand continues to bring in new business opportunities which supports our ongoing growth.