This year's theme, "Atmysphere", was taken up by many exhibitors and highlighted the aspects of floor covering production that contribute to the well-being of the home and promote naturalness and sustainability. From Sabine Slaughter
Internationality and sustainability gave each other a hand at Domotex. With a 70 percent foreign visitor share of 35,000 visitors, the four-day trade fair with 1,400 exhibitors proved its worth. "DOMOTEX is and remains our most international trade fair. We are delighted that the event attracts participants from all over the world, who come for an average of 2.3 days - 60 percent from Europe, 25 percent from Asia and 10 percent from America, with the remainder coming from Africa and Australia," said Dr. Andreas Gruchow, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Messe AG responsible for DOMOTEX.
As good as the quality of the visitors was, the quality of the exhibits and stands was even better. Of course, there are also mass-produced goods, but it was precisely the limited-edition exhibits, individualized and personalized products, that attracted the crowds. This year's main theme, "Atmysphere", was a perfect match. From production to the finished product, there was something to discover at every corner of the fair. The "meeting point crafts" was renewed and new technologies and craftsmanship - old and new - explained and presented could be marvelled at.
"The main theme reflected the spirit of the times perfectly, and its significance was clearly visible in all halls. We are already busy exploring ways to make the theme of sustainability even more visible at Domotex 2021," says Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Global Director of Domotex. "I am also very much looking forward to working together with the trade fair's players from the business and trade sectors to generate even more benefits for the industry and its customers next year".
Completely dedicated to carpet printing
the Austrian company Zimmer Austria. Printing examples were already shown at Heimtextil, here, however, mainly on textiles and textile substrates. At Domotex, however, these were in the background and carpet printing, the company's speciality, was in the foreground. Individualised carpets, special motifs which appeal not only to end consumers but also to corporate customers who want to expand their branding and also express it with their floors, are addressed by the printed carpets. A uniform appearance is not only obligatory in the hospitality industry - in the meantime, attention is paid to this in all areas and especially at events. In addition, the company business card in particular - the entrance area, but also all other rooms in which visitors are received - is nowadays being "scrutinised" even more closely and should also reflect current trends in interior design.
With the Colarisdigital printing machine series, the successor of the ChromoJet printers, which enjoy a good reputation worldwide, all these advantages can be realized. The Colaris inkjet printers can print on all types of carpets as well as textiles. The printing width can be individually determined between configurations from 1,800 to 4,200 millimetres. The model for carpet printing uses up to 96 Dimatix Starfire print heads and up to 12 colours. The resolution is 800 x 1600 dots per inch. The difficulty with carpet printing is that the ink must be absorbed into the carpet fibres. The company has developed a special "Penetration on Booster Technology", whereby a penetration agent is applied to the carpet with the result that the ink jet droplets are washed down into the pile. This produces an outstanding quality which enables sharp print images and bright colours.
Digital surface design
The Colorgate solution was also on the stand of Barberan, a manufacturer of single pass inkjet printing machines for surface printing and finishing, especially on wooden panels for the production of laminates, but also on squared timber, PVC and cork panels, ceramic tiles or metal plates 3D Surface Director with the Surf 3D hardware. The presented print samples and seductive surfaces, which were produced by means of inkjet printing on the JetMaster printing machines of the Spanish manufacturer with UV inks, were extremely well received by the audience.
In addition, there was another delicacy on the stand with the Surf 3D and 3D Surface Director from Colorgate. Especially for manufacturers of surface products, it is important to record, transform and, of course, output surface description data. There is often a shortage when it comes to recording existing products or reproducing them. The Colorgate edition of the Metis solution creates a complete surface description with SuperScan, which contains precise color definition, depth structure and reflection information of the digitized object surface. With the SuperScan, the lighting situation can be modified in terms of light direction and intensity in order to consciously change the visual appearance of the SuperScan image. The color accuracy is guaranteed by a unique color calibration and color conversion process. Surface depth structure information can be visualized, modified and stored in an embossing depth map. The reflectivity map describes the reflection characteristic of a surface with its specific properties such as reflections and shadows.
The color management software included in the package of the 3d Surface Director, DPS Surface Director Edition, serves as a color measurement device for ICC characterization of any color printer. An out of gamut module enables the color data of the surface to be checked visually for reproducibility on a specific printing system before the complete print data is generated. The Universal Surface Director TIFF driver supports all common output color modes in any resolution including special color information for primer, white, gloss or varnish.