Who we are

Jos Willems started his own company, Style, in his attic room more than 35 years ago. His mission? To automate tasks, and thus take a leap forward in the typesetting sector. It immediately became the basis of our Crius Group philosophy: a smarter approach to processes.

Behind every great man stands a strong woman, and so Jos’ wife joined him in the company. Along with another, equally strong female colleague: Zita Vanderauwera. She has now been working there for more than 25 years!

Wolters Kluwer Belgium discovered Style and brought in the team to keep legislative texts up to date and publish them across different media. We were proud as punch! This collaboration led to scaling up and continuity for Style. The company became the expert in medium-neutral storage formats.

In the meantime, the team was expanding into a sizeable group, and Style moved from Jos and Linda’s private home to renovated premises on the same street.

Jos and his wife have passed their passion for typesetting on to their sons Jurgen and Jordy, making it a true family business. In 2003, the sons took on a role in management, and so the time had come for a larger workspace. A 1250 m² building in Hulshout was awaiting a thorough renovation.

Jurgen and Jordy noted that the prepress market was changing rapidly, and that Indian suppliers were gaining market share. Thanks to the takeover of the Indian company Genesis Textware, Style was able to offer competitive prices and sufficient capacity with shorter lead times.

The company continued to experiment with new technologies, and the publishing sector in particular remained eager for such innovations. A new focus for Style.

Style changed its name to Crius Group and headed for the Dutch market, where it has gradually become an established firm.

The design firm Mediacombo was also taken over during this period. With this acquisition, Crius Group sought to take advantage of the introduction of the iPad and to address educational publishers. The unfailing process expertise of Crius Group was thus gradually combined with creative design experience. 🎯

Content management became a new focus, allowing the team to help publishing companies to create, manage and publish their content even better.

Crius Group continues to invest in process optimisation and now seeks to free publishing companies fully of their editorial tasks. 👊  A joint venture with the Dutch B1 Detachering would soon follow, and in 2016 the Crius Group carried forward its activities in Flanders independently.

The team is more motivated than ever, and launches a new concept for making textbooks efficiently: Core. Overamstel Uitgevers bit the bullet. The result? With Core, the publisher saves a lot of time and money.

In the coming years, Crius Group continued to innovate in both print and online typesetting. The team therefore decided to expand its offer for content and asset management with their software solutions Alex and Casper.

Renovation alert! 🚨 Due to the increase in the number of employees and departments, there was a lack of space at the office in Hulshout. A reorganisation, with attention to an attractive and inspiring workspace was needed. The result? A colourful and open interior with lots of space and light.

In the meantime, Crius Group has been investing in its own publishing congress, Crius Update Live. This event combines relevant publishing stories with networking opportunities for colleagues from Flanders and the Netherlands.

Becoming even stronger editorially in the Netherlands? Naturally. In October 2021, Crius Group launched an intensive collaboration with Amsterdam University Press (AUP) and Walburg Pers. Two AUP employees joined in a secondment process, the aim of which was to further professionalize their editorial services and production. 

On April 1, 2022, the concept expanded, and Crius Group established itself in Amsterdam. The team there now consists of three desk editors. This way, they are even closer to the publishers based in the Netherlands.