lovephotobooks.com launch relies on perfect marriage between Epson Stylus Pro 9900 and multiple substrates
Lovephotobooks.com is a new online personalised photobook service from family-run bookbinder Hollingworth and Moss, which has diversified into print. This latest venture has been made possible via the company’s investment in a 44in Epson Stylus Pro 9900 inkjet printer.
“Quality is the key differentiator,” says Richard Hollingworth, who runs the company with his brother Paul. “We researched the photobook market in detail and we weren’t impressed with other offerings. We could see that we had something better to offer.
“We needed a large-format machine which would produce both covers and content for our range of photobooks, and it had to be capable of very high quality print as we’re aiming at professional photographers as well as the family user. The Epson Stylus Pro 9900 fitted the bill. It has an 11-colour inkset with a very wide gamut, which we find especially accurate for skin tones
The Epson Stylus Pro 9900 was supplied by Barry Singleton at Fastek, which now provides on going service and support. “Barry was very patient when we went through dozens of tests on the Epson, especially with a challenging range of substrates. The broad range of the Epson 9900 is impressive with numerous capabilities, we are especially keen on using canvas covers for our classic range of photobooks which are very durable and help provide a bright and beautiful image representation.”
Hollingworth and Moss prints on semi matte photo papers for the photobook contents and hybrid polyester canvas for the covers to achieve the quality effects customers want.
Hollingworth continued: “As well as producing top quality results, we have found the Epson Stylus Pro 9900 to be an easy machine to run, it’s very quiet; we like the auto cut-off feature and we’re impressed by how quickly and easily rolls can be changed over. We found that in order to maximise efficiency and minimize make ready time, it works best in conjunction with the EFI Colorproof XF Rip, mainly because it takes the processing task away from the machine.”
The investment in the Epson printer is opening up other new possibilities by printing on self-adhesive vinyls and wallpaper material. “We have started to attract new work, notably through a photographer who was impressed by the Epson printer’s quality and came to us for a series of wallpaper murals they had been asked to produce for a well-known pub chain. This shows we’re now open for business for all kinds of indoor sign and display work.”