Global wallcoverings brand Seltex has invested in a new Agfa Anapurna wide format H3200i LED hybrid print engine.
Seltex specialises in the commercial and high-end residential markets. It mostly supplies the hospitality sector, including hotels, cruise ships and restaurants around the world, and works directly with architects and interior designers. The family-owned business, based in north London, has been manufacturing high-end wallcoverings for almost 40 years.
According to the company, the wallpaper market has long been dominated by the gravure printing process that allows high-quality print on a broad selection of textured substrates, and the long print runs result in affordable prices. But like other print markets the vast developments and improvements that have been made in digital print technology over the past few years have meant that digital output is now acceptable to wallcovering producers too.
When Seltex was formed in 1985 it supplied off-the-shelf products from other gravure houses. Gravure can print on robust, fire-rated materials that are required in the contract wallcoverings sector, but like other analogue printing processes, the initial set up of cylinders is expensive, and there are restrictions using this process. Digital print has therefore opened up opportunities for faster sampling.
Managing director of Seltex Askel Fenman said, ‘The extra benefit of the new Agfa wide format Anapurna for Seltex is the design flexibility it offers. We can produce one-off wallcoverings that are fully personalised for a feature wall in a project and we can produce longer runs too at an affordable price. The flexibility also allows us to provide sample swatches for a project with ease, to the size that the designer requires, and with a really quick turnaround time, which was not possible before.’
Seltex has been a customer of Agfa for more than 10 years, running both an Anapurna M2 and MW print engines. The Anapurna H3200i LED has replaced both these machines, coping with their workload and more.
