Fine art specialist Harwood King Printmakers has installed a new swissQprint Nyala 4 to handle growing demand for high quality prints from independent artists and publishing houses.
The Newhaven, East Sussex-based firm has opted for a six-colour white, varnish and orange version of the Nyala 4 incorporating 6-inch diameter roll to roll shafts. The specification allows the business to accurately handle the thicker paper stocks designed for the fine art market. The machine was installed at the start of January.
Harwood King Printmakers has over 40 years of experience working with artists, publishers, and galleries worldwide to produce high-quality fine art limited edition prints. The company has seen explosive growth over the last six years thanks to its combination of print techniques – screen printing and digital flatbed printing – resulting in sharper results.
Impressive demo
The Nyala is capable of printing at speeds of 206 square meters per hour with 9 individually configurable colour channels. Harwood King Printmakers are able to take on any format on the machine’s 3.2×2m flatbed.
With the business’s current flatbed printers not meeting demand, the team visited swissQprint’s demonstration site in Bracknell to see the Nyala 4 in action. Harwood King Printmakers’ Managing Director Casper Harwood-King said he was impressed by the machine’s quality, flexibility and efficiency.
“After our first visit, we knew we would have to buy a Nyala. It’s like a car with all the optional extras. But every addition being vital to the machine and designed to make a real difference to its operation,” he said.
“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.”
Ink channels add range and impact
Casper added that the option to add orange to the Nyala’s specification was ideal for the business as many of its projects require deep, rich reds moving into orange. Harwood King was having difficulty matching those colours but now, with the Nyala 4, it can achieve them with accuracy.
“Our client base ranges from independent artists, who come to us for between five to 10 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.”
Trust and sustainability built in
The waste the business was seeing from its previous production methods is now a thing of the past, saving Harwood King time, money and resources.
“We realised how much paper we were throwing away previously because of banding, vacuum holes, head strikes, cleaning and nozzle drop outs. All of those issues have been completely rectified with the swissQprint Nyala 4,” said Caspar.
In addition to the reduction in waste, the Nyala 4 is driving significant efficiencies, benefiting the business’s sustainability aims. Casper said that one project now took a day to proof compared to a week with previous methods. “You can just trust the Nyala to do its thing,” he concluded.
Pete Smallwood, Regional Sales Manager at swissQprint said: “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’s Nyala 4 ticks all the boxes for King & McGaw
