About us

Drawing of an offset press from the former Launay print shop

1934-1974

In 1934, Mr Wercklé opened his letterpress printing shop at 45 rue Linné, in the Latin Quarter.

In 1957, he retired and his employee, Henri Launay, bought the business. It was then renamed Imprimerie Launay.

The business became a family affair when his son Pierre took over in 1974. He developed the company and introduced the latest printing technology of the day: offset!
His wife, Michelle Launay, set up a copy shop to serve the students of the brand-new Jussieu university.

Drawing of the Launay print shop workshop

1984-2023

In the following years, their sons joined the business: Pascal in 1984, Alain in 1986 and Yann in 2009. They steered the printing house towards books and the graphic arts, while continuing to develop traditional printing for businesses and individuals. The printing house built close ties with Paris’s leading schools of graphic design, illustration and fine arts, and developed new bookbinding techniques to meet the ever more complex requests of clients and students.

2023 to today

In 2023, Alain and Yann Launay retired and handed the business over to Sharon and Siegfried Thouvenot. Passionate about printing and books, they opened a new chapter in this long history: a complete renewal of the equipment, the development of UV and CMYK+ digital printing (white, gold, silver, varnish…) and a move to 21 rue Louise Weiss, in the 13th arrondissement, to bring all activities together in one better-suited place.

Today, the whole Imprimerie Launay team offers its clients the latest printing technologies, combined with craftsmanship handed down over generations.

Editorial 2026

Since January 2025, Imprimerie Launay has welcomed you in its new premises at 21 rue Louise Weiss, a stone’s throw from the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand. A brand-new workshop, designed for our work, which at last brings prepress, printing and finishing together under one roof.

We took the opportunity to renew our equipment: our new Ricoh Pro C7500 press prints white, gold, silver and spot varnish digitally, and our 12-ink Fine Art printer brings out the best in your art prints up to A2.

What hasn’t changed: working by appointment, your presence during printing, our advice to help you choose from over 300 papers in stock and thousands more to order, and the craftsmanship that has made our reputation, from one-off perfect binding to laser cutting.

The Launay Team