Mimaki leads the way with LED UV technology and continues to evolve its already substantial and award-winning range of innovative flatbed printers along with the more recent additions of UV roll-to-roll print and cut as well as grand format roll to roll. This solid portfolio of LED UV hardware feeds a number of buoyant markets including direct-to-object, rigid signage, industrial prototyping, personalisation, soft signage and exhibition graphics. However, along with spearheading the LED UV hardware technology, much of what is creatively achievable is only possible with the phenomenal UV inks Mimaki has brought to market.

The medical industry increasingly generates 3D patient data with MRI, CT and ultrasound equipment. Dutch software company PS-Medtech specialises in the 3D visualisation of these scans of the human body by means of their own imaging software Vesalius3D. The company teamed up with Mimaki to print the images their software generates in full colour. The results are astonishing.

When architects and designers Tomaso Boano and Jonas Prišmontas, owners at London-based architectural firm Boano Prišmontas, were asked to exhibit their landscape installation, Alphabet, at Crate Brewery in Hackney, they initially planned to stage an existing project. However, after visiting the space, they were inspired to push the boundaries of creativity at the venue. The traditional white brick walls of the brewery – normally used as a blank base for hanging small pictures or paintings – could be turned into large windows on an infinite landscape to take the experience of urban Londoners to the next level. Only one piece of the puzzle was missing: how to decorate such large walls with 1:1 scale landscape pictures? The solution came from Mimaki EMEA who produced the prints in their Amsterdam showroom.

Hybrid Services, the exclusive distributor for Mimaki inkjet printers and cutting systems in the UK and Ireland, has announced the launch of the new Mimaki 3DFF-222 3D printer, a product co-branded with Sindoh, a manufacturer of 3D printers and multi-function printers based in South Korea. The Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) solution, which will make its debut at Sign and Digital UK 2019, has been developed as an in-house design and production tool, ideal for parts such as jigs used in direct-to-object printing and tools for producing three-dimensional signage.

Mimaki has long been at the forefront of print technology when it comes to hardware, having a heritage that dates back to the 1970’s, but its breadth and pedigree of inks is well worthy of discussion as Mimaki continues to pioneer the way with new ink types and special effects. A company that is never at rest, Mimaki is continuously developing new technologies in inks, hardware and software, not just because they can but because there is a drive to move the industry forwards.