The low down on gocco's future...(it's not good news)
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Original Post
I spoke to someone from Australia's gocco supplier, Nehoc, the other day & asked lots of questions about what's going on with gocco.
As we know, production of the machines ceased in June - but since so many have been produced, stocks are plentiful, especially from online sellers, ebay, etc.
As for the consumables, Riso is apparently no longer supplying US-based retailers. The supply agreement with the US is totally different to Australia - apparently the machines & consumables supplied to the US were produced specifically for the US market, & Riso doesn't find that profitable anymore.
Luckily for we Australians, our supplies are directly from Japan (the same as those made for the Japanese market) so as long as they're being sold in Japan, they will hopefully be available in Aus too (& Nehoc has stock to last at least the next 5 years).
Unfortunately, even in Japan, the packs of 5 screens are no longer being made (you can only buy packs of 2 screens & 2 bulbs) & many of the ink colours are no longer being made...so you just have to get what you can until the stocks run dry.
As for another manufacturer picking up where Riso left off, apparently the bulbs are the main problem. Only two manufacturers in the entire world make them & they're not cost effective to make unless in massive quantities. There is a (very expensive) machine Riso made to flash the screens, but they no longer make that either! They still make a machine to flash their coarser mesh...nowhere near as fine as the gocco master screens though, so only suitable for cloth, not paper.
So it looks like the American market may run dry of supplies quite soon & US-based people will need to buy online from Japanese sellers. Unfortunately Nehoc doesn't ship to the US.
So very sad...
Posted at 9:46am Aug 10, 2008 EDT
Responses
Yup HouseofWorn - it looks like Polaroid manipulations and Gocco printing are going to be the "new" lost arts.
Posted at 12:10am Aug 14, 2008 EDT
Off to stock up on supplies.....again! Thanks for the update magicjelly!
Posted at 1:32am Aug 15, 2008 EDT
Wow, this is so sad. I was just considering getting a gocco, too.
Posted at 2:08am Aug 15, 2008 EDT
I like gocco, hope it finds a way to continue :(
Posted at 6:44pm Aug 16, 2008 EDT
well, i guess i can cross Gocco off my "one day" list, although the thought of not being able to makes me want it all the more.
I bet someone will swoop in in the nick of time with a new product.
Maybe since etsy has an "in" with Martha Stewart, someone with a little clout could get her moving in that direction???
Posted at 7:33pm Aug 16, 2008 EDT
Well, for starters, Riso owns the patent on the system & isn't likely to give that up. Secondly, as I think I said in the OP, the bulbs have to be made in such massive quantities (& are only made by two manufacturers in the entire world) that there's no way it's going to be cost-effective for someone to pick up where Riso left off. I can't recall the actual figure, but it was something like 35 million bulbs need to be made in each batch.
Posted at 7:47pm Aug 16, 2008 EDT
that's a lot of bulbs. i saw that you can purchase 40 boxes of 10 bulbs on the marlene watson site for $480 but what are you going to do with all the bulbs if you run out of screens to use? :(
Posted at 7:49pm Aug 16, 2008 EDT
I just bought one a few months ago.... I had heard the supplies were still going to be sold but not the machines. I am ok with buying supplies from japan.... but if supplies run out that would suck.
When I showed my dad how it works.. he was like "they still make flash bulbs?".... lol.
Posted at 8:06pm Aug 16, 2008 EDT
