Our Story
Three generations of family ownership
Founded in 1938, we are now in the third generation of Schulte family ownership. 85+ years later, our growth and evolution are attributed to our talented and responsive experts, limitless print/finishing capabilities, and our will to exceed our customer’s demands with superior results and value.
Our production facility is centrally located in the USA, with the capacity to handle any project- no matter its size or complexity.
Modernistic’s mission is to drive value for our clients by providing expertise, superior products, and dependable services with speed and precision.
Our story starts with humble beginnings
Our story starts with humble beginnings inside a garage in 1938 where Cliff Schulte lived in a double garage with his family. He wanted more for them and took out his life savings investing in: 2 die cutters, a shared upper storefront on Kellogg Blvd in St. Paul- naming it “Modernistic.” Here, Cliff would die-cut displays after his day job, bundle them up with twine, then deliver them via streetcar.
Against All Odds
Modernistic was quickly growing and Cliff’s dream was slowly becoming reality when the outbreak of WWII created an immense shortage of supplies. It got so bad, John Schulte (Cliff’s son), remembers having to make dies with the end of fruit crates. These were hard years, with grit- we pushed on.
A Spirit of Excellence
By 1950, we had gained a reputation for reliability and precision working with companies like 3M, manufacturing decals and reflectives. By the 60s and 70s we had multiple locations and invested in automatic presses. John Schulte took over daily operations by this time and focused on process control, quality systems, and an overall spirit of excellence. He even was an early adopter of social responsibility programs before they became popular like profit sharing programs and 401k matching.
Speed & Reliability
The more a project changes hands/vendors the higher the project cost. To combat this, we started acquiring more large format printers to create more options and capabilities. By the 90s and 2000s, the robust economy helped us gain more traction to invest in digital print and cutting. With innovative ideas, Jim and Scott Schulte took sole ownership at this time, focusing on expanding our efficiencies with hybrid manufacturing technologies.
