There is an ‘industrial revolution’ going on today in the digital inkjet printing industry, with rapid growth in new market segments for the depositing of inks onto manufactured products for decorative purposes. Examples that represent opportunities for sign shops include interior décor, ceramics, laminates and textiles.
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The Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA’s) next Printeriors conference and showcase will present ‘The Print Hotel’ to demonstrate how digital wide-format printing can produce distinctive interior décor.
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Digital textile printing can be thought of as a system, combining printer technology, ink chemistry, fabric preparation, colour fixation and supportive software for colour management, to process interior décor applications and other wide-format specialty graphics.
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In May, the first-ever Printeriors showcase debuted at the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA) show in Cologne, Germany. As the name suggests, it was dedicated to the growing field of digitally printed and screenprinted interior décor.
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In the wide-format digital printing industry, the term ‘textile’ has been used to encompass a variety of applications, materials and processes, including wearables, soft signage, interior décor, environmental graphics and other applications using dye sublimation, direct-to-fabric printing or another transfer process.
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As digital inkjet printing technology has made significant advances over the last decade, a wide variety of opportunities have opened up with respect to the production of graphics for interior décor applications.
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Toronto-based architectural fabrication firm Eventscape has engineered and installed a 7.6 x 3-m (25 x 10-ft) backlit feature wall for the reception lobby of housing developer Great Gulf’s local ‘design studio’ centre.
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As digital technology continues to improve, inkjet printing takes more market share from analogue methods. Beyond its established foothold in signmaking, it is reaching such applications as interior décor, textiles, packaging and industrial printing.
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In November 2014, the European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association (ESMA) organized the first-ever Printed Interior Decoration (PID) conference in Düsseldorf, Germany.
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One of the most interesting trends relating to the digital textile printing market is how regional factors have been gaining strength, enabling a noticeable shift of decorated fabric production back to Canada and other western countries.
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