Kolossos History

Kolossos Printing founder Nick Arhangelos began his career in the printing department at UM’s Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities. With the skills he acquired there, Nick launched a small printshop in the basement of his home by acquiring and rehabilitating a small offset press.

After building a darkroom in the basement, acquiring a used offset camera, paper cutter, stitcher and folder, and enlisting the efforts of his wife, Kathy, Nick and Kolossos Printing were ready for business. Before long the workload forced Nick to leave his job and work his own company full-time. Later he was forced to move the company out of his house and into a storefront at 213 E. Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor.

Evolution of a Downtown Institution

1969
Kolossos founder Nick Arhangelos remodeled his basement to accommodate a layout area, darkroom, offset press, and binding equipment.

1970
Kolossos Printing grows into a full-fledged enterprise, and moves to 213 E. Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor.

1974
Kolossos expands into space next door at 217 E. Liberty.

1976
Continued growth leads Kolossos to move around the block to the current location, 310 E. Washington.

1986
In an ongoing effort to stay abreast of advancing technologies, Kolossos is the first Ann Arbor printer to offer color laser copies.

1987
Kolossos is the first to install a Canon Bubblejet, producing instant jumbo color copies.

1989
Remodeling on the 310 E. Washington location allows for 12,000 square feet of working space.

1991
Kolossos is the first Ann Arbor printer to offer high-speed printing-on-demand, allowing documents to be reproduced from disk, or via the internet.

2003
Kolossos is the first commercial printer in Ann Arbor to install a wide format color scanner (3’ x 10’ for transfer oversized images to disk, CD, or printer.