Obchodní tiskárny Kolín or OTK, today known as OTK Group, a.s., is a Czech printing firm based in

Kolín Kolín (; german: Kolin, Neu Kolin, Collin) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 32,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administra ...

founded in 1879. Today it produces a wide range of paper and card products including labels, and packaging.

History

The company was founded in 1879 by

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

typographer, J. L. Bayer as a lithographic printing office producing calendars and colour pictures. It became the biggest domestic producer of calendars, but also expanded its operations to manufacture books for business. During the first half of the 20th century the company exported to eastern and central Europe. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the firm was rebranded and nationalised under communism as ''Obchodní tiskárny Kolín'' and it continued to expand its range, producing forms for computer technology, labels, playing cards and calendars. New premises were built. The firm was denationalised in 1989 and has since continued to expand. In 2006, the OTK Group was formed with subsidiaries in Germany, Romania and Russia.

Products

Today, OTK's products include: flexible packaging, graphic labels, self-adhesive labels, mercantile products, shrink-sleeve labels, in-mould labels and 'smart pack'.

Playing cards

OTK was a major manufacturer of traditional playing cards of the Bohemian pattern, some marketing under a Pegasus motif that was inherited from the cardmakers, Ritter & Cie., of Prague. However, OTK discontinued this activity, and the Pegasus branded cards are now since 2010 manufactured by the Společnost Hrací karty 1884 company.

References

{{Reflist Manufacturing companies of the Czech Republic Playing card manufacturers Manufacturing companies of Czechoslovakia