A new collaboration between Southern Counties Glass and specialist British photographer Richard Osbourne, coupled with the print capability of a Mimaki JFX200 and JFX500 from CMYUK is resulting in some stunning – and practical – art installations for interiors.
Southern Counties Glass has focused on manufacturing painted glass splashbacks for the kitchen industry for the last 15 years, and Director Derek Churchill saw the potential to take the products to the next level, by digitally printing high resolution images directly onto the glass.
It’s a move which has expanded their reach from kitchens to other applications ranging from shower enclosures, wall cladding, corporate signage and even wall art in public buildings.
Derek explained: “We were already spray painting the panels and using solid colours, and I saw an opportunity to create truly bespoke panels through digital printing.
“We’ve been in business for 70 years now so our glass working skills are second to none, and we knew we wanted to do the printing ourselves. We spent two years looking for the right printer and working out the best pre- and post treatment methods to ensure a hardwearing yet beautiful result.
“I linked in with CMYUK at an open day and after working through some options with them through months of testing, we purchased a Mimaki JFX200.
“Once we had mastered the technical side, we focused on the photographic element, as we wanted to offer a complete solution including images that are optimised for these kinds of applications.
“We’ve teamed up with Richard Osbourne, a British photographic artist who specialises in images printed in large sizes, and his work is now seen by more than eight million people in Britain each year on the walls of hospitals, conference centres, offices, leisure centres and private homes.
“We now have a licence to use 4,000 of his works, which makes this a great opportunity for people to bring stunning images into their own environments.”
Southern Counties Glass recently invested in a new Mimaki JFX500, increasing the size of panels it can print from 2400 x 1400mm to 3100 x 2100mm.
Derek added: “Printing photographic images onto glass offers a high class finish with shine and definition. To achieve the best from this, you need the fewest number of joins possible – plus our customers are always pushing the boundaries as far as installation size goes, so the new printer was a necessary investment to stay ahead of the game.
“Our complete focus on glass, and our skill in handling this tricky substrate, makes us unique in this market. Working with the four biggest kitchen industry suppliers in the country we carry out installations across the UK, and we now produce show-stopping pieces for printing companies that don’t have the experience with printing onto glass.
“As well as offering the Richard Osbourne collection we can print any high res image onto glass and customers can either use their own image or choose one of ours at no additional cost. They can also pay to use a stock image from a library such as Getty if they wish. A panel with a printed image costs just 20-25% more than a painted panel.”
The company has significantly increased production. They’ve also focused over the last 12 months on developing their marketing, with a completely refurbished showroom with a photographic gallery, a redeveloped website and a stunning new brochure featuring the Richard Osbourne images.
Jon Price, Director at CMYUK added: “The pieces that Derek and his team are producing are simply incredible, and we’re proud to have played our part, supporting them in finding the right printer for the job.
“The Mimaki JFX200 and JFX500 are both great machines offering quality and consistency, and are perfect for printing onto glass. Put that together with the skills of the Southern Counties Glass team in developing the right treatments to fix the image, then handling and installing such large panels, and you’re onto a winner across both the signage and display markets.”