Fine art printer installs swissQprint to boost output

Fine art specialist, Harwood King Printmakers, has installed a new swissQprint Nyala 4 at its production facility, to handle growing demand for high quality fine art prints.

The family-owned East Sussex-based firm first installed the machine at the start of January. Harwood King has opted for a six-colour white, varnish, and orange equipped version of the Nyala 4 incorporating six-inch diameter roll-to-roll shafts. The version was chosen by the business to more accurately handle thicker paper stocks designed for the fine art market.

The Nyala 4 has a reported printing speed of 206sqm/h, with nine individually configurable colour channels and a 3.2×2m flatbed.

The Harwood King team first saw the Nyala 4 during a visit to swissQprint’s demonstration site in Bracknell. Harwood King’s managing director, Casper Harwood-King, was impressed by the machine’s quality, flexibility, and efficiency.

Harwood-King comments: “After our first visit, we knew we would have to buy a Nyala. It’s like a car with all the optional extras, but with every addition being vital to the machine and designed to make a real difference to its operation.

"For example, you can even pause a job if part of the media is curling up, make the adjustments and then continue printing. That’s just one element that is so useful for printers like us.”

Adding orange to the Nyala’s specification was chosen as many of the company’s fine art prints require deep and rich reds moving into orange.

Harwood-King continues: “Our client base ranges from independent artists, who come to us for between five to ten prints at a time, to big publishers asking for 2,500 prints.

“With the Nyala we can now meet their colour demands including texture builds and spot varnish effects. These are a lot more time and cost-effective on the Nyala compared to screen printing. It’s really affordable for our customers.”

Harwood King, founded over 40 years ago, works with artists, publishers, and galleries worldwide to produce limited edition fine art prints.

The company has reportedly seen significant growth over the last six years thanks to a combination of screen printing and digital flatbed print techniques being utilised to produce sharper results.

Pete Smallwood, regional sales manager at swissQprint, adds: “We know that our customers demand a machine that produces exceptional results.

“In the fine art print market, the best-in-class Nyala is an ideal fit for Harwood King Printmakers. It produces high quality prints efficiently and sustainably and we are delighted that they are already seeing its impact.”

SwissQprint recently released its new generation of wide-format flatbed printers which includes the new Nyala 5 and Impala 5. The Swiss manufacturer has dubbed the new generation as "a new era in flatbed printing", with a new line-up that is 23% faster than the previous generation, offering a reported top speed of 341m²/h.

You can check out our coverage of swissQprint's UK launch event of the new generation in the video below: