Visting FESPA 2007

FESPA held its European 2007 in seven halls of Berlin, Germany’s Messe exhibition complex. Berlin, fortunately, knows how to accommodate convention attendees with large German breakfasts that easily sustained this journalist for the many hours of the show. The FESPA organization also treats the press well. It provided a coffee lounge for retreats and interviews, manufacturer’s press conferences, computers and Internet connections.

I met Michael Dobias, a representative of Atelier Spektrum (Prague, Czech Republic), at the Hewlett-Packard press conference. He told me how large-format, digital-print companies have softened the impact of Europe’s restoration projects by creating scaffold coverings – screens — that present images of the covered facade.

Atelier, using its HP 9000 printer, has imaged wrapping screens for several of Prague’s under-restoration monuments, including the Josef Jungmann monument in Jungmanovo Square and the Jan Hus monument in Old Town Square. The company has also innovatedly decorated 200 of the city’s taxis.

The projects won prizes in two of FESPA 2007’s commercial, digital-print categories.

The taxi project, a winner in the Vehicle category, promoted the Skoda taxi fleet’s backseat comfort with images of a relaxing rider affixed to the back window and rear quarter-panel of each car. The Jungmann screening placed in the Exterior category.

Fabric printing history began in Europe. In 1996, Zund (Altstätten, Switzerland) built the Perfecta flatbed, fabric-printing inkjet printer exhibited at the FESPA show in Lyon, France. Colorwings (Coevorden, the Netherlands) has sold inkjet, fabric printers from the mid-1990s. Durst (Lienz, Austria) has produced digital-laser, photo-imaging printers and inkjet printers that have advanced, industrial-print quality standards.

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Such North American companies as EFI-VUTEk (Meredith, NH) and Gandinnovations (Toronto) sell a significant portion of their production to European print operations. Also, certain Mimaki inkjets have received excellent fabric-printing reviews in Europe.

In summary, let me say that in addition to FESPA treating journalists well, the food services at the Messe included freshly made sushi, delicious German beer and bratwursts. American exhibition promoters would make all of our exhibition experiences more enjoyable by replicating a few of the European ways. Attendees could even get a foot massage at FESPA.