Last week I had the absolute privilege to join Hannah Nunn and team on a colour day at Anstey Wallpaper factory, we would be sampling colours for her latest wallpaper design. Her design makes the most of the chosen technique of Gravure Printing which uses an etched copper plate roller to apply non toxic solvent based ink to the paper stock, which dries instantly on contact.
This process reminded me of a visit to Spode ceramics for the BCB where in the visitors centre there they have some original hand engraved copper plates for transfers to be baked onto the pottery. The etching process is now controlled by machines and many times more accurate.
The factory was an awesome place to visit, insanely professional and was brilliant to see the production of the designs I had seen earlier this year in the showrooms of Chelsea design centre.
More infomation on the machines and process can be found on the Anstey website;
Hannah Nunn is rumored to be holding an open studio in the neer future with a chance to see our hard work on her new colours for her latest design so keep an eye on her facebook and website here;
Thanks to Hannah for the factory visit and studio placements and to everyone else for visiting my new blog, I hope you enjoy the photos.
Durable and the highest quality latex ink gets jetted and instantly baked onto the paper stock by these giant, brand new printers.
Rotary screen printing.
Base colour going down ready for the designs to go on top.
First colour of the design.
Paper is highly tensioned and even a tiny tear can cause a tear out which means starting the set up again. From a 250 metre roll only 150 metres of finished product will be made due to the length of the machines and needing to thread the paper all the way through before starting up.
Quality control photographing each alignment and automatically adjusting different stages if needed.
Up to eight individual stages of application are baked dry in these ovens before the next stage.
Final trimmed paper gets rolled into individual 10 metre drops and shrink wrapped and boxed for delivery.
High speed gravure machine.
Roller Storage.
Hannah Nunn's beautiful colours and latest wallpaper design!
Thanks for visiting.
Oliver.
