Metropol Industries Inc

Metropol Industries (formerly Metropol Event Poster Services) started as a gig poster delivery service in 2003. Employee zero was Steve Webb, a former promoter who recognized a need for a consolidated postering service during a tumultuous period for event marketing in Victoria; there were too many posters, too little space, and no communication. Steve felt that he had a solution with a system of fair and equal representation through a managed core poster service. Over a decade later, this system still operates 7 days a week. Metropol EPS was run from a gymnasium in the Duck Building on Broad Street, in space shared with a photographer and a graphic designer. Metropol existed for the first few years as a postering company and publisher of The Metropolitan Magazine, a local magazine featuring photography, artwork, music reviews and essays. It’s worth noting that this gymnasium and was the birthplace of the Metroball Dodgeball Society, Victoria’s premier dodgeball club and the Canadian representation in the 2008 World Dodgeball Championships. It soon became clear that it was essential to offer poster printing services along with the design and postering, so Metropol struck up a deal for use of the photocopier in the back of a local bar. For the first few years, the poster printing was done by carting in boxes of paper on a hand-truck between bands loading and unloading. This was, of course, completely silly. During this period, there was a surge in interest in gig poster artwork and Metropol employed a large number of graphic designers to make them beautiful. This time is often considered the Golden Age of gig posters in Victoria. There are hundreds of examples of great posters from this period, many done with multiple color separations on a Risograph printer. Many of these artists have gone on to established careers in the design and illustration fields. Metropol incorporated in 2008 and acquired some digital printers and cutters to offer full-blown print services