There is no possibility that too many tributes get paid to Michel Caza.

In our first tribute post on Sunday, Rick closed with the line “I hope many tributes roll out.” They are rolling out. And there is no possibility that too many get paid to this man.

We followed Sunday’s post with our friend Beppe Quaglia’s beautiful tribute on Monday. Today, FESPA, the organization Michel helped found, issued their own official statement. And it deserves to be read in full.

So here’s most of what FESPA said. Because Caza earned every word.

FESPA’s official tribute

In 1961, Michel was one of eight founding board members of the FESPA federation. It was established to share screen-printing knowledge, build cooperation between printers and suppliers, and promote screen printing across Europe. Michel stayed on the FESPA Board until his retirement in 2014. He served as FESPA President from 1996 to 1999, and again from 2000 to 2002, a period of significant transformation for the organization. Through FESPA, Michel watched the development of a global community of speciality printers that now spans nearly 40 countries.

FESPA President Daniel Sunderland said this:

“Michel was an irrepressible innovator, passionate about the craft and creativity of screen printing. He believed wholeheartedly in the power to advance print by encouraging printers to share their knowledge and ideas generously with one another. His unshakeable belief in the power of community, collaboration and education was one of the guiding principles on which FESPA was founded, and he played a fundamental role in the growth of our organisation and events over seven decades. Those principles are still the foundations of FESPA more than 60 years on, as expressed in our strapline – Connect. Inspire. Support. The global FESPA ‘family’ will never forget his contribution.”

FESPA’s statement reminds us that when digital inkjet emerged at the turn of the millennium and most of the screen printing community treated it as an existential threat, Caza did not. He recognized the technologies as complementary. He was a vocal advocate for digital investment. FESPA Digital launched in 2006 in no small part because of him.

And on sustainability — he was there before most of us. He wrote Screen Printing: A Guide for a Clean Planetback in 2001. That work became the basis for the first FESPA Planet Friendly Guide, and the foundation for FESPA’s sustainability education today.

Read the full press release

Read FESPA’s full tribute, issued through AD Communications on May 26: FESPA Mourns Loss of ‘Founding Father’ Michel Caza.

And if you have not read Graeme Richardson-Locke’s 2019 interview with Caza, do that now: Graeme interviews Michel Caza.

The tributes will keep coming. They should. The man spent seven decades giving knowledge away to anyone who would listen, in their own language, when he could manage it. The least we can do is say thank you, loudly, in print.

Rest in peace, Michel.