Getting to know Daniel Rim, Owner of The Colour Cartel
Not every print shop starts with a clear plan — some are built through iteration.
For Daniel Rim, owner of The Colour Cartel, the journey into printing didn’t come from a traditional production background. It started on the design side — working with graphics, typography, and digital tools — before gradually evolving into something more hands-on.
Like many in the industry, the transition wasn’t mapped out in advance.
It was built through trial, error, and a willingness to figure things out in real time.
In this Behind The Mesh feature, we take a look at Daniel’s path into printing, the mindset behind how The Colour Cartel operates today, and the lessons that come from building a shop without a blueprint.
Let’s dive in.
Follow Daniel and The Colour Cartel team on:
Website: https://thecolourcartel.com.au/
Instagram: @thecolourcartel
YouTube: @thecolourcartelaus
About Daniel
List 3 things about yourself – fun facts, hobbies, pets or interests
- Tragic golfer, constantly grinding to get better.
- Washed up dirt bike racer, turned superbike rider. Love it. Track only, road isn’t quick enough.
- “If you don’t go when you want to go, when you do go you’ll find you’ve gone”
Describe your screen printing journey. How and when did you get started and what has been your biggest learning experience?
I came from the design side. I was into graphics and art in a digital form from early high school days. I couldn’t draw with a pencil to save myself so I self-taught with a computer.
Always been big on typography and logos, probably something to do with dirt bikes and all the branding surrounding that. Whilst working in the snow industry (after a few different forays into differing lines of work) I bought a Roland BN-20 as a side hustle to do stickers. I could do HTV with it too, got my first order of shirts and hoodies and never looked back.
Tell us about your proudest screen printing project. What made it special and what did you learn from it?
There’s a load of things that come to mind, its a bit boring of an answer but its not so much a single project I’m proud of, but the way that we’ve developed as a team and can tackle different prints.
Industry
What are your thoughts on the current trends in screen printing? Do you see any emerging styles or techniques that excite you?
Haha, we’re working through a few high density projects at the moment. Seeing it a lot in high fashion and seems to be making a mark. This has been a tricky task but I think we’ve worked it out to a consistent level capable for large scale production.
What role does the online community play in your screen printing practice? How do you connect with other printers and share knowledge?
I’m a big fan of trade shows, meeting people in person and getting in touch with them that way. A few of the printers in our team are a bit more present on the social media side than I am, but catching up with them in person and then going back on the stuff they’ve posted has helped us heaps.
John McGee from @traveling_screenprinter is a wealth of knowledge, we went to a conference at Impressions with him and the depth we went into in regards to ink and its properties was wild. Such an eye opener for us and we immediately changed a bunch of things to do with curing temps and time at temp.
Shop Floor
What is your most treasured product or piece of equipment on the floor that has made your life easier as a printer? Why?
Haha weirdly I have a dental tool from my wife that I used to weed HTV with back in the day that I call Excalibur, but it has to be the ROQ Next. Its just pretty. The Thermotron gets an honourable mention as well.
What is on your wish list for your shop floor this year?
We’re about to invest in an auto reclaim, that’ll be the next big thing. But we just moved factories, so the space we’ve just added will be the biggest thing we do this year!
Advice
What advice would you give to aspiring screen printers? What are the essential skills and qualities for success in this field?
Rip in. You learn by trying. Its bloody hard to find exact instructions, you won’t find it. You learn by failing, identifying where you went wrong and getting it right a second time (or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.) time.
Bonus
Share a funny or unexpected mishap you’ve encountered while screen printing.
I’m pretty good at printing boards, I don’t get on the machine much so when I do its chaos. The boys are pretty good though. When we were moving the presses the other day I was under the ROQ E and stood up, not remembering there was a print head above me, smacked the top of my head then recoiled and head butted the pallet arm. Got a nice shiner between my eyeballs at the moment.
What’s your go-to playlist for a productive printing session?
Hahaha love this one. I’m listening to it right now. Its a self made playlist called deathrockf***yeah. on Spotify. Lets goooooo.
What is the weirdest/funniest artwork you’ve had to print?
The first thing that comes to mind is actually something I haven’t printed yet, but its in the queue. A mate of mine we ride with rode 5x full sessions at Phillip Island with his boots on the wrong feet. Mind you these boots have gear lever patches, sliders and zips that you have to get past to put these on backwards.
We’ll have a few shirts to hand out at the next ride day to commemorate.
Conclusion
Daniel’s story reinforces a simple truth about this industry:
There is no perfect process.
No universal method.
No single way to get it right.
What builds strong print shops isn’t avoiding mistakes — it’s learning from them faster than everyone else.
It’s repetition.
It’s problem-solving.
And it’s the ability to keep moving forward without waiting for certainty.
Because in printing, the people who succeed aren’t the ones who had all the answers.
They’re the ones who kept going until they found them.
