New inkjet tile catalogues launched.

While inkjet technology has been around for over ten years it is only within the last two years or so that the matured technology has become sufficiently reliable and ubiquitous that we can confidently produce inkjet tiles in China. Nonetheless we were very careful in selecting our preferred factory. We have worked with them before so we know their quality is up to standard plus they have a state-of-the-art modern inkjet facility. Our eight new mini brochures have accurate photographs of the new ranges as they came off the production line. You can download them individually on our brand page under KREM (scroll down to KREM) or as a pack here.

The designs for our new tile ranges come from a design house in Italy and are based on trends we and other experts have identified at expos such as the recent CERSAIE in Bologna. We sent a team including some of our most experienced customers over to Europe to make the final design selections. This process included selecting textures, specific face variants and colours for each design. The designs were then implemented and produced in China.

Inkjet Tiles - How are they made?

Ink jet printers that can reproduce realistic digital images were first available to the market in 2000. Today there are a wide variety of machines being made and used across the world.

Technology: The ink jet technology for tiles is essentially the same as your desktop inkjet printer just larger. Instead of scanning repeatedly across the page a tile printer uses four or more rows of ink jet heads working continuously.

Advantages
· The image printed is chemically stable
· Inkjet printing is efficient; there’s far less wastage than with contact printing systems like rollers.
· No rollers means fewer moving parts thus reducing costs.
· Natural stones and pictures are reproduced perfectly.
· Much faster change-over times to new colours or designs.
· Greatly improved consistency of colour.
· Because there is no direct contact in inkjet printing it is possible to decorate relief surfaces.
· Inkjet decoration shortens the path from idea to product.

How: The master image is electronically separated in a graphics program then these digital files are sent to each of the different colour print heads. The printer can print multiple different tiles in sequence. The arrays of print heads spray microscopic pigment droplets onto the tile surface from a distance of only a few millimeters. The tiles now pass on to glazing and kiln firing at 900-1200°C.