You can print that? Five surprising printed pleasures

From the books we read to the information we need, print is absolutely everywhere but, like anything ubiquitous, we can often overlook just how awesome it is. Every year, there are new innovations and product launches in large format graphics that have the potential to change what we see, where and when. Sometimes you might not even register what you’re seeing because it’s never ‘just print’…

It’s how your home looks

Colour matching is so passé – customisation is where it’s at. Today you can match your decor to prints, photographs and artworks. Imagine being able to use the beautiful background from a photo to print on textiles? Adding unique flourishes to furniture? Design your own wallpaper? Or even tiles? It’s all possible.

It’s catching the light

Stained glass is beautiful and timeless but can take forever to be crafted. The speed at which a stained-glass effect print can be produced with a Canon Arizona printer is absolutely incredible. First the ‘glass’ is printed onto the back of polycarbonate, then the surface is printed to give the leading look and feel before being trimmed to size.

It’s taking you places, colourfully

Barcelona print house Teletransfer can cover an entire bus in print in under 24 hours – 67 metres of material can be printed and ready to apply in around an hour. And the UVGel inks give incredible vibrancy and accuracy, meaning that bright, fun messages can be changed frequently – adding even more colour to an already beautiful city.

It’s a thing of beauty

Preserving extraordinary and priceless artworks is the right thing to do, but that shouldn’t mean that we shouldn’t get to see them at all. Visitors to the Mauritshuis in the Netherlands were able to get up close to a Rembrandt last year through the incredible accuracy of elevated print technology. And the movie ‘The Goldfinch’ contains many near-perfect replicas of Carel Fabritius’ masterpiece.

It’s making the world a better place

New print technology is making accessibility cost effective. In cities all over the world, the blind and visually impaired are beginning to see the effects of combining tactile print with technology, whether it’s in very practical day-to-day ways, such as navigating a city, or in the ability to enjoy experiences that may not have always been readily available.