Extending horizons
As events and exhibitions started up last year in an atmosphere of uncertainty, lead times were cut to days, and at times it felt like customers were jamming us into the last 48 hours of their Gantt charts. But already the pressure is beginning to ease - exhibitions are not back to full strength by any means, but the planning stages are stretching back out, and we’re expecting to be back on a much more normal looking schedule by Q2 this year.
We’ve been steadily investing in new equipment over the last five years, and our new machines have proved invaluable to us, enabling us to meet demand and those short lead times in spite of all the obstacles. We’re cautiously optimistic about 2022, confidence in events is rising, and the latest news on Covid-19 restrictions is reassuring for everyone.
Our prediction that fabric print would start to make serious inroads into exhibition graphics appear to have been borne out, making our FabriVu 340i a firm favourite. The addition of our calendering machine, allowing us to print on stretch fabrics, gives us even more versatility in our choice of fabric substrates, and we’re seeing more and more stretched fabric graphics over rigid lightweight frames, making use of fabric’s reusability, storage simplicity, and backlighting opportunities to create arresting exhibition stands. The versatility of the calender combined with the FabriVu will also allow us to venture into new areas like soft furnishings - something we intend to explore in earnest this year.
Our 5m Vutek has been steadily printing graphics for exhibitions, and it has allowed us to diversify effectively into office refits, refurbishments and refreshes now too. We’re now able to print dazzling, vibrant feature walls in a single piece, instead of the more traditional wallpaper-style drops or self-adhesive vinyls, creating a much improved seamless look, simplifying installation and lasting much longer with fewer corners to peel, or joins to catch and scuff. Additionally, we print to PVC-free substrates designed specifically for the application and install them using nothing more than wallpaper paste, meaning an extremely quick installation with minimum disruption, and no solvents or lingering solvent smells. Businesses are wanting to quickly spruce up their offices and communal areas to create a new, exciting workplace to return to - and well designed and appropriate feature walls are a rapid, effective and economical way to completely change the ambience of a space.
Now that the pandemic appears to be in retreat, we are focusing again on sustainability, and the effort to phase out vinyl - a tall order given the amount of vinyl and PVC used in exhibition print. But more and more ‘eco-friendly’ print products are coming to market all the time, and this year we’ll be compiling these choices into eco-swatches to make picking the sustainable option much easier.
Onward and upward! 2022 promises to be a busy year, and a little hectic at times (what’s new?), but it will be a big improvement on what we’ve been dealing with up until now, and for that we’re all grateful. Some of our staff have barely had a chance to work in the office since they started in 2021, and we’re looking forward to safely having the full team back at Ottimo Digital HQ and working together again.