Digital print specialist Xeikon has continued its investment in textile printing, showcasing a range of innovations at the Heimtextil show, the largest international trade fair for home and contract textiles.
Following a successful collaboration at several industry trade shows last year, Xeikon teamed up with designer Hugo Diego to produce tactile designs using the Xeikon Wall-Covering Suite, an all-in-one digital solution that produces a finished product.
The range of applications included 3D bleached wooden panelling, bronzed iron sheets, and cartoon character inspired designs. Danny Mertens, director of marketing and business development for document printing at Xeikon says, “We are very excited to demonstrate the commercial and creative flexibility that our presses bring to the market and sharing how innovative designers can use them to develop offerings that stand out in a crowded market. Digital printing technologies from Xeikon allow designers to push boundaries and as such extend their portfolios with high impact and visually vibrant results – all without any compromise in quality.’
Hugo Diego’s latest designs using Xeikon technology
Hugo Diego launched his new 2015 Textures collection at Heimtextil. He says, “What makes this collection very special is that we have wood and rusted metal textures. We introduced a new set of bricks to complement our very popular red brick texture, and bring back our four very popular stone textures. All of our textures are in very high resolution with over a billion pixels. They are seamless and repeat every 3.66m. This enables us to cover large areas while still maintaining a very realistic effect. We are excited about our ongoing collaboration with Xeikon and the added flexibility it gives us and our customers compared to traditional production processes.
He adds that digital print has taken production a stage forward by enabling the ordering of panels from 0.91m to 3m in small quantities. He says, “Without this type of printing capability, this product would not exist at this price point with this flexibility. The Xeikon Wall-Covering Suite of tools open a world of possibilities for any designer. Printing is now a very fluid process in my workflow. I can design a collection of textures, murals or patterns for a client, get prototypes printed that will be exactly what the production model will look like, and go into full production, all in one continuous motion. There is no need to use different machines or different substrates. Being able to use the same suite of tools for short runs or large productions is a real time and money saver when designing, creating, producing and distributing wall coverings of all types.”
At Heimtextil, the company used a Xeikon 3500 Digital Press equipped with a jumbo unwinder, a weko humidifier for non-woven substrates and a web varnishing unit. With an output speed of 600swm/hr, Xeikon claims the fastest digital printing speed on the market. The company says it Alpine fuser drum guarantees the matte finish required for wall-covering applications. Xeikon adds that its odour-free toners print work comply with EN15102 standards.
