About Us
Silvertone International was established specifically for the discerning artist and photographer – those demanding the highest standards of image reproduction for books, art catalogues, digital fine art prints (in colour or black & white), B&W film processing and hand prints. Drawing on decades of experience, and coupled with the latest digital technology Silvertone is able to ensure complete control over print detail, colour, contrast, saturation and sharpness. At Silvertone our personal interest and involvement in each project we undertake is born from an obsession with the photographic process and a love for the printed image. Our objective is always to exceed your expectations, that is why each and every piece of work is handled with sensitivity and care as we apply our art, to enhance yours.
Where we came from
Silvertone International was established in 2001 by Dennis da Silva mainly for B/W Darkroom printing . He soon realized that the demand for Digital Fine Art was too big to ignore and Andreas Kahlau joined him in 2002 with a clear vision to offer an unprecedented level of service and quality of work to the digital creative industry.
The scope of work and expertise has broadened to meet a growing demand for printed limited edition art work, large scale prints, scanning, book reproduction and art reproduction. While Dennis remained focused on wet chemical printing and processing, Andreas with his German training and background built up the digital side. In 2013 Andreas took over from Dennis completely.
Vision
To transform the vision that every artist has of their visual art into a reality.
Mission
To treat every customer like an award-winning artist and then transform their work into award-winning material.
Meet the team
Andreas Kahlau
Owner & CEO
The Silvertone team is lead by the German perfectionist, Andreas Kahlau. With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, Andreas is a trained scanner operator/retoucher and Photoshop expert who has been on a number of workshops. Workshops such as “Cone Editions” from Jon Cone, one of the forefathers of digital Fine Art pigment printing in the USA, as well as on numerous very advanced Photoshop workshops with Dan Margulis, one of the worlds most knowledgeable Photoshop experts.
Andreas is also a certified Apple pro in colour management using Mac 0S X by Apple. A very rare and prestigious achievement.
Andreas also completed a Predictable Colour Proofing and Printing workshop at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the USA. Andreas has a deep passion and love for digital imaging and photography! His knowledge and instinctive artistic feel for what works for an image gives him the edge and makes him the sought after professional by all image-makers.
andreas@silvertone.co.za
+27 82 411 7929
Frank Marshall
Scanning & Fine Art Image Reproduction Expert
Frank Marshall is from Pretoria and has been working alongside Andreas Kahlau at Silvertone since 2015.
Frank does everything from Fine Art Retouching to Archival Printing to High Resolution Scanning. Artwork Reproduction is one of Frank’s specialities and out of everything he also enjoys this the most.
One might see Frank on the road early in the mornings as he cycles to work every single day.
frank@silvertone.co.za
WhatsApp: +27 72 802 6619
Gilroy Thale
Framing Specialist
Gilroy Thale is Silvertone’s Framing Specialist and has been at the company since September 2019.
Gilroy started framing during his matric break and soon fell in love with framing and decided to pursue it full-time. He completed his ‘AAA’ course at the South African Picture Framers Academy and returned not long after to do his Advanced Framing Course. The Academy was so impressed with his artistic and consulting skills that they offered him a job at the Academy as a lecturer.
Gilroy has been going from strength to strength in the framing industry for the last 10 years.
In his part-time Gilroy enjoys watching soccer and also refines his artistic mindset by writing music and playing the piano as a hobby.
gilroy@silvertone.co.za
+27 76 560 0255
Arend Kahlau
Marketing Manager
Arend Kahlau worked at Silvertone from 2017 – 2019 on a need-be basis but has stepped in full-time since the start of 2020 with the position of Marketing Manager.
arendkahlau10@gmail.com
+27 72 609 7771
Joe Takawira
Fine Art Printing Consultant
Joe is our newest member and has been part of the Silvertone team since September 2020. He has more than 20 years of experience in the Fine Art industry with proven skills as a digital printer, printing technician, sales consultant and photo editor.
joe@silvertone.co.za
+27 71 079 3518