Mad Chair, which sells and upholsters furniture with fabrics it prints itself, installed the 44-inch (1.12m) dye-sublimation printer in July as a replacement for an older Epson fabric printer, buying from supplier CMYUK.

The company, which stands for Mother and Daughter, was founded in 2019 by Tracy Reed and daughter Remy-Mae Reed.

Tracy Reed, who has a 15-year background in digital print design, told Printweek that investing in the new Epson just made sense considering the older model’s high maintenance cost.

“I think we went through a maintenance tank about once every three and a half, four weeks. So it’s quite a substantial saving over the year,” she added.

In addition to buying the new printer, Reed has just opened a new 185sqm showroom in Blackburn, which the team is continuing to furnish. Reed will likewise open a coffee shop at the showroom by early November, she said.

All this activity has been aimed at launching Mad Chair back into a competitive position, since the pandemic interrupted business. Pre-pandemic, the company turned over around £100,000.

Reed said: “Now, we’ll have to see - we’ve started from scratch.”

She added that with the addition of the coffee shop, she would soon be able to add a number of staff to the roster, in addition to her, her daughter, and the company’s upholsterer.

Reed said: “It’s an exciting time for us, and our business is going from strength to strength.

“We’re both committed to pushing the brand into new creative avenues and it’ll be interesting to see where we land in another two years.”