Myfotowall.com, which has just won an Innovation Award in the Yorkshire Post’s Excellence in Business Awards, is to print images of serene waterfalls, colourful flowers and other relaxing pictures to fill the walls of wards, corridors and staff rooms of the 104-room United Arab Emirates hospital.
It also has a contract to provide wallpaper for 21 shopping malls in Kuwait and is hoping to tie up several deals with hotels in Dubai.
The company which has recently opened an office in Australia headed by Paul Sowerby, takes a digital image of a customers’ choice and transforms it via its website into wallpaper to fit a desired space.
The Myfotowall engine enables any digital image to be increased by up to 1,600 per cent of its original size without losing any image quality through its patented technology which is attracting interest from across the globe.
Stephen Armitage, managing director and founder of Myfotowall, said the Australian office had been opened to tap in to the lack of decorated houses down under.
He said that only a small percentage of people’s walls were decorated because “there had never been anything to put on them” and he said there was a potential market for images of big name sports stars and other personalities from the country.
At present, Myfotowall uses printing firms in the UK to create the wallpapers but its products are compatible with 770 printing machines worldwide, so the company hopes to set up printing operations overseas.
Armitage, a former miner at Denby Grange Coal Mine, in Wakefield, in the early 1980s, said Myfotowall was following a two-tier business strategy, targeting its service to “resellers” who offer their digital images to customers using Myfotowall’s technology, and by winning contracts with other businesses.
Myfotowall has secured partnerships with some 15 businesses, including professional photographers who offer their work as wallpaper through their own websites.
The firm has also won contracts to display images in the premises of several companies.
Images are emblazoned on the walls of Ikea stores, Bentley car showrooms and at 120 Crown Decorator Centres across the UK.
Armitage said that the beauty of Myfotowall wall coverings was that it could be used in any location, including bars, restaurants, showrooms, sports grounds, offices and retail outlets.
