HP is showcasing new technologies that are empowering hotel designers and manufacturers to re-imagine new possibilities with printed decorations at The Hotel Show.
Hotel News Middle East caught up with Ernest Azzam, regional business manager, large format printing, Middle East Mediterranean & Africa at the show to find out more.
What products are you promoting today?
What we are showing is what we can do with HP latex printing, which was designed originally for outdoor advertising and signage, but because of the technology it can be used perfectly safety indoors. We have also started to focus on interior decoration and what can be done with these products. Because you can print on a wide range of media like wallpaper, stickers, textiles, synthetic leather and so on, interior designers are finding it easy to design whatever they want and it looks professional.
How does HP latex printing work?
Long-lasting prints often use a solvent or eco-solvent ink. HP came up with a technology that is safer and more environmentally friendly, which is water-based ink plus latex particles. The latex melts on the materials to lock the ink down without any hazardous chemicals. Because of this, we can use it indoors as much as you want without having any problems or smell and that’s why it has become popular in interior design applications.
How has the hotel industry responded to it?
It is new, so we are showcasing it at The Hotel Show and this is the first day. We’re seeing a lot of interest actually – people are surprised with what they can do with this technology, they don’t believe it is printed. It looks very realistic and professional and the response has been excellent.
What are your plans for the next 12 months?
We’ve been pushing in the interior decoration market a lot so we have participated in Index also – the interiors event in Dubai, and the response has been amazing. We’ve started to see our customers having more and more decoration jobs coming to them. We wanted to be there to also show interior designers that work with hotels what they can do so we have a restaurant area, we have a lobby area and a library lounge theme for them to see what can be done with this technology.