Without olives or grapes, maybe you wouldn't be reading right now (unless you were part of Royalty)
The imPRESSing truth about the Printing Press and its potential inspiration: the humble olive
Remember sitting in history class, trying to piece together the seemingly endless parade of names, dates, and inventions?
Depending on your continent, you might have learned about Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Arab inventions from the ancient and medieval times…
For centuries, Mediterranean countries like Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece perfected the art of olive oil production using screw presses. These devices, designed to extract oil from olives with consistent pressure, were the way they found to make more out of limited resources, such as human energy: from that they turned it into a process you can attach to mules.
I was reminded of this while watching Uncharted, Gordon Ramsay’s TV show (4-minute long video below), where he explored how the Berbers in Morocco still press olive oil using traditional methods: the grinding stones, the mule, and the pressing later down the process.
Here’s the process:
Grinding: Olives were crushed into a paste using large stone wheels, pushed by a mule.
Pressing: The paste was placed on woven mats, stacked, and pressed using a screw mechanism.
Separation: The liquid extracted was separated into oil and water.
Watching this, I couldn’t help but think of something else: those history book images of Gutenberg’s printing press. Could the humble olive oil press have inspired one of history’s most transformative inventions?
Remember Gutenberg?
At some point in history classes, the majority of us1 might have learned about Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press (which was invented ca. 1455), and Martin Luther, who made use of his inventions ca. 1520s.
The reason we’re here today, reading this, sharing ideas, and even debating them, can be traced back to that invention. This invention made learning massively available. But that machine took on a lot of inventions that preceded it, like the olive oil press. So… Could the olive oil press have been the inspiration for Gutenberg’s invention?
I’m not claiming Gutenberg loved olive oil as much as I do (on toast with diced tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, if you’re curious). But it’s plausible that the screw press served as inspiration. In fact, Gutenberg’s genius may have been less about inventing from scratch and more about connecting dots no one else had seen.
Gutenberg and its failed previous experiments
Surprisingly, (or not really) there isn’t much information about Gutenberg.
While I was refreshing my memory to write this post, I was surprised to learn that he wasn’t really in the business of the press until later in life.
After a few failed ventures, such as mirror-making, he had a very specific desire of not being poor, and later he somehow then got into inventing the printing machine.
Fun fact: it was this failed mirror-making process that made him aware of some specific alloys that later defined how he would cast the type. Remember when I talked about failures being learning opportunities? I just gave you another great example!
As many as 100,000 of these mirrors were cast from a mixture of lead, tin and antimony—the three basic ingredients that Gutenberg later used in the casting of metal type.
Jeremy Norman’s HistoryofInformation.com
The Printing Press: Gutenberg’s legacy
“I believe that the Printing Press was our Species’ intellectual Big Bang. Knowledge up to that point was the property only of a small number of people, whether the royalty or the … and the ability to produce books was severely limited: to produce a book, a person has to sit with a book, and painstakingly copy it into a second version.”
Prof. S. James Gates Jr. (University of Maryland) for The History Channel
You can find a video showing and explaining how the Gutenberg Printing Press works below (6 minutes), step-by-step.
Gutenberg did not only invent the machine, he also redefined how part of the components were to be used, and for what purpose.
By reusing the mechanics from agricultural tools to the press, he made a manual process2 into something more efficient.
Gutenberg likely adapted the screw press for printing by rethinking its purpose:
Even Pressure: The olive press’s screw mechanism applied steady, even force, making it ideal for transferring ink from movable type to paper.
Reusability: Just as the press could be cleaned and reused for a new batch of olive oil (or wine, depending on the machine), Gutenberg’s movable type allowed letters to be rearranged and reused, drastically cutting costs.
Efficiency: Like olive oil production, his system was designed for scalability, producing books quickly and in large quantities.
What This Teaches Us About Innovation
Gutenberg’s story is a lesson in how cross-industry thinking can deliver valuable ideas, and more than just ideas, world-changing inventions that see the light of day.
Olive oil production and printing may seem worlds apart, but by borrowing the mechanics of one, Gutenberg really revolutionized the other, not just revolutionize, but really create a new industry altogether.
Here’s what you can learn from this connection as an intrapreneur:
1. Innovation often reuses inspiration from other industries into a new one
Great ideas rarely stay siloed. Gutenberg looked beyond the field of paper printing to find his inspiration in agriculture. As an intrapreneur, consider how practices from other industries might solve problems in your own.
What processes, tools, or ideas could you borrow and adapt?
2. Look to the Everyday
The olive or the wine press weren’t new or flashy, but rather an everyday tool in Europe (I might argue that the wine press was more available in Germany than the olive oil press). Gutenberg’s genius was seeing extraordinary potential in something ordinary.
What’s sitting in plain sight in your organization that could be reimagined?
Key Takeaways
As you head into the week, think about where those connections might be hiding in your own work. The next big idea might not come from brainstorming sessions or industry trends, it might come from something as simple as watching how other industries are doing specific processes, and bring that into your area.
Without olives or grapes, maybe you wouldn't be reading right now (unless you were part of Royalty) - Innovation from Within's Key Takeaways for this week
How often do we stop to think about the "how" behind the "what"? Today's post is one of those reflections.
> Observe Outside Your Field
>> Watch how other industries solve problems. Could their tools or methods be adapted to your organization?
> Start with Efficiency:
>> Focus on streamlining processes to maximize output. What can you simplify or improve?
> Reimagine the Ordinary:
>> What “everyday” tools or systems in your workplace are calling for reinvention?
>> By borrowing from the world around you, you can create something that feels entirely new, and maybe even create your own revolution.
>> Consider how we get inspired by nature to fly more aerodynamically, or to launch things in space efficiently we look into origami!
While this was an invention (creating something entirely new), this also was the product of cross-pollination between industries, inspired by the practicality of wine and olive oil production.
Gutenberg’s story reminds us that innovation is often about seeing connections others might not care much about, or even see!
If you want to get inspired in connecting the dots between different industries for inspiration: check out:
How Birds Can Teach Us to Build Better Airplanes (3-minute video)
Gutenberg and the Printing Press (1-hour deep dive with Stephen Fry)
That’s it for this week’s deep dive into how a pop-culture reference like olive oil production can inspire us to think differently and drive change in our organizations.
Now you have another fun fact to share in the Christmas Dinners!
If you liked this, feel free to comment or reply to this e-mail, I’d love to hear your thoughts! You can also share this with friends, coworkers or family if you found it interesting.
I’m assuming you did learn about this in school, but I went to a German school so maybe they were very biased about their own German inventions.
Printing - Gutenberg, Moveable Type, Incunabula | Britannica, Accessed December 12, 2024.
I always enjoy your posts Francisca. I learn something and leave inspired. Thinking about the prior failure of Gutenberg, and how it led to the invention of the Printing Press, is a good reminder for any of us pursuing our goals. It does take failure along the way to accomplish what we so desire. It takes iteration to determine the right process, niche, or product.
Borrowing and adapting framed up in this way is awesome. I see many folks early in their career operating with a hope that they can be a brilliant inventor when often we just need to learn what has worked for others and better adapt it to our own situation.