Enhancing the Ordinary - Interior Designers and Architects Uncover the Power of Print at Printeriors 2016

The second edition of Printeriors, an event showcase, which highlights how digital print can revolutionist interior design, opened alongside specialty print event, FESPA Digital, at the RAI Amsterdam (March 8-11, 2016). Combining three individual offerings: the ‘Print Hotel’, the Printeriors VIP Café and the Printeriors Conference, this event offered interior décor designers, manufacturers, specifiers and architects the opportunity to discover how print can be used to transform interior surfaces.

The ‘Print Hotel’ was home to a new exhibition concept displaying hotel rooms created purely by digital print. Designed to inspire, the 16 roomsets included a bathroom, lift, bedroom, reception, café, bar and lounge, with detailed products highlighting the depth and breadth of opportunity that print can offer. Exhibitor FESPA Italia offered a collaborative approach with over 10 companies using 12 different substrates to create five developed environments while CPF-Industrial’s ‘cube’ room proved popular as visitors were asked to rethink how they viewed their design challenges, literally by turning them on their side.

Located alongside the Printeriors 2016 showcase was the Printeriors VIP Café, which continued the hotel theme with its design comprising a hotel bar and reception area. Exhibitor M4Four who provided the flooring for this feature generated much interest. Sales Manager, Gerwin Poelman stated: “We have been inundated with enquiries and met a lot of key visitors, including many interior designers. Our aim was to showcase our product, showing just how versatile and creative print allows us to be. Architects, interior designers and consumers now want to understand how they can push this learning even further to create more. We’re delighted.”

The Printeriors Conference, held on the March 10, offered further opportunity for delegates to discover how print can be used to enhance interior spaces. Industry leaders sharing their inspirations included industry-renowned Alberto Alessi, Chairman of Alessi SPA, Gemma Riberti of global trend-forecaster WGSN, Cholakarn Visutipitakul from Bodhi Tree Décor and UK brand, Kitschiku. Attracting delegates from as far afield as Australia, America, Canada, Singapore, as well as Italy, Russia and Norway, sessions included new creative opportunities across different materials (without reduced quality), print options on vinyl, wood, metal, glass, ceramics and textile and the macro trends and pattern and print designs for the coming year.

U.S. delegate Skip Grant of Grant Graphics said: “Thank you! I am still overwhelmed with the quality and depth of the information presented by the professional speakers! They have loaded me up with fantastic insights and ideas and I feel ready to spread the word about all the new possibilities.”

Held alongside industry-leading events FESPA Digital, FESPA Textile and European Sign Expo, visitors were able to seamlessly switch between the four exhibitions to uncover all of the possibilities of wide format digital print and non-printed signage. And, with its central location within Europe, Amsterdam proved an ideal setting for specialists to convene and expand their knowledge within this rapidly-evolving landscape.