The Newport, South Wales business installed a 3.3m wide Kleverik GTC 101/3500 calender press earlier this month.

The Kleverik supports both dye-sub transfer printing and fixation of dyes and pigments for direct-to-textile printing.

Ottimo ordered the 4m/min machine to support its EFI Vutek FabriVu 340i dye-sub which it installed just over two years ago as its first step into dye-sub. Both machines were supplied by CMYUK.

“All the big boys that are digitally printing fabrics tend to use separate calenders, so we always thought we would buy one,” said director Nick Lindwall.

The sign and graphics specialist business serves the events and exhibition, retail, sports, property, construction, high-end corporate fit-outs and entertainment sectors.

“The last 12 months have been very interesting. Like many other businesses we were closed during the first lockdown for five weeks with literally no work at all,” said director Lee Crew.

“Then we were fortunate enough to come back with a vengeance in the summer because there was so much social distancing and Covid 19 safety signage needed. We produced huge volumes of floor graphics that saw us through the summer and put some wool on our back.”

According to Lindwall, one of the key drivers of investing in the Kleverik to support the FabriVu was to be ready for the pent up activity in the exhibition and events sectors, where it hopes to leverage some of the specialist fabclad applications it offers such as hanging 3D structures, pods, pop-ups, rooms within rooms, and walled zones.

He added that the exhibition arena in particular would be an interesting one in the near future.

“We’re seeing a number of start-ups and new players presenting potential opportunities. The pandemic has created a watershed moment where we’ll see new inventive ways of physically bringing people together in innovative spaces. We’re ready for the challenge, and look forward to working with our clients as we all adjust to the new world order.”​