Calling All Designers: The Printerior Trend Has Reached South African Shores

The international trend of digital interior printing has made its way, at last, to South African shores and decor enthusiasts everywhere are swooning. With this groundbreaking technology available to us, we now have in our design and decor industry access to the easy, on-demand trend that is Printeriors.

What is it, you ask? Printeriors – or printed interiors – refers to anything digitally printed on surfaces ranging from wallpaper and murals, textiles and wall art, wood and metal to ceramic, glass and Perspex. Literally, anything in your living or work interior space can be printed with this state-of-the-art technology, now available at ArtLab.

“Globally, designers are taking the Printerior trend to mainstream use by leveraging the advances in digital textile printing to create bespoke furniture coverings, cushions, wall coverings, flooring, drapes, table tops, even windows and mirrors, all on-demand and with no minimum meterage. With this technology now arriving on our shores, we expect to see the local design community experiment with the Printeriors concept to create fresh new, authentic, and unique designs”, says Craig Whyte, CEO of ArtLab

Much of SA’s textile printing takes place in China on a mass-produced scale, but this printing tech now allows for bespoke pieces to be made locally without requiring minimum mass volume orders. This decreases costs and waste while minimising the barrier to entry for small, local textile manufacturers. “Essentially, the new digital printing technology enables medium and short-run printing without the major start-up costs, which opens the market to smaller new players as well as enabling the more established players to experiment with designs, fabrics and colours in an affordable and accessible way”, Whyte explains.

Benefits of Rubber Stamps in Scrapbooking and Card Making

Its applications, too, are open to endless interpretation for designers, architects and makers alike. Printed wall coverings are big business right now in the international interior design world, especially with a new material made in Germany called Airtex that allows the wallpaper to be printed and applied in one piece rather than in panels, so you can cover an entire wall in one go!

The new Printerior trend is shaking up the traditional textile printing market with its rapidly developing technology. No more minimums or expensive design plates, screens or drum preparations needed. Instead, digital textile printing opens up a whole new horizon of opportunities. With extremely fast production turnarounds, no limits and 17 million colours to choose from at the push of a button, Printeriors is set to revitalise the industry in SA just as it is international scale.

For more information visit the ArtLab website.