With great sadness, FESPA has shared the news of the death of one of FESPA’s ‘Founding Fathers’, Michel Caza. Michel passed away on May 23, 2026 at the age of 90. In 1961, he was one of eight founding board members of the FESPA federation, established with the objectives of ‘sharing of knowledge of screen-printing, the establishment of close cooperation between screen-printers and suppliers and promotion of screen-printing in Europe’. Michel remained a Board Member of FESPA until his retirement from the role in 2014, and he occupied the position of FESPA President from 1996 to 1999 and 2000 to 2002, at a time of significant transformation for FESPA. Through FESPA, Michel proudly witnessed the development of an active global community of speciality printers which now spans nearly 40 countries, sharing knowledge and best practice and supporting one another’s progress and growth.
Michel first experienced the world of screen printing while working a student job in Stockholm in the mid-1950s. It became a life-long passion and career during which he collaborated closely with many prominent artists, including Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and Victor Vasarely. He was a print business owner and prolific author of technical and art books and articles. During his career he accumulated more than 350 prominent industry awards, and delivered hundreds of presentations, seminars and workshops worldwide, influencing global printing practice through his teaching and consultancy. At the turn of the millennium the emergence of new digital inkjet processes was perceived by many in the screen printing community to be an existential threat, but Caza recognised that the technologies were complimentary and was a vocal advocate for investment in digital output, which was reflected in the 2006 launch of the dedicated ‘FESPA Digital’ event.