Wide Format Imaging

Despite the downturn in the economy which has affected some print segments, one niche area of the wide-format industry that seems to be witnessing a major rebirth is the digital fine art market. Driven by the creative visions of photographers and artists and empowered by the new product innovations in digital cameras, printers, inks and media, this segment of the market looks to have a bright future.

"We are seeing the digital fine art market growing at 10.4 percent per year," said Tim Greene director, Wide Format & Jetting Technologies at InfoTrends. "Our calculations show the market is valued at more than $450 million in 2008, expected to grow to more than $630 million in 2012. Of course, these numbers are very heavily skewed to the US and European market. But they show huge growth potential, he added.

Rising Demand for Décor Art

"In a related trend that's a definite boon for photographic and fine-art inkjet reproducers, demand has been rising for high-volume yet custom corporate décor art for venues like hotels, retail chains, restaurants, and other multiple-location spaces, as well as the popularity of what's become known as 'sofa art' for individual consumers," commented Regan Dickinson marketing communications specialist at LexJet.

"Since inkjet also offers the unique ability to print custom art essentially on-demand, savvy print makers are finding themselves awash in a much larger market than they had ever envisioned even three years ago. Simply through the advancements in inkjet technology alone, the market went from being a cottage industry of sorts to one with mass appeal, but with the custom, on-demand twist. So a hotel chain, for instance, can decorate its Texas locations with local cowboy color, or its Florida locations with beach and tropical art, and get the quality and economy they need," he added.

David R. Williams, sales & marketing manager for InteliCoat's Museo Fine Art line-up shares the same sentiment about the market. "The fine art segment continues to grow, some estimate at a growth rate of as much as a 15-25 percent. From my perspective, the two segments of the fine art market that are experiencing the most growth are fine art photography and canvas printing," said Williams.

Williams also sees that the growth is being fueled by the popularity of hotel art as well as gallery wraps. "The growth in fine art photography is being helped by the lower cost and higher quality digital cameras, as well as medium-format printers. Epson printers dominate the digital fine art market, as Epson was the first printer company focused on fine art and photo printing. However, HP and Canon have also launched printers targeted at the fine art market. HP's emphasis is on media flexibility and the ability to automatically profile the media by the printer, while Canon offers the fastest speed. The printer companies are offering wider printers now (60 to 64 inches) but it still is not clear if there is the demand for fine art prints at this size. More likely these printers will be used by shops offering multiple services, not just fine art printing," Williams pointed out.

Williams is also seeing different types of new media helping fuel growth. "In the fine art photo segment, a new segment of papers was launched with Museo Silver Rag in early 2006. This was the first 100 percent cotton digital fine art photographic paper with the look and feel of traditional fiber based photo paper. Since that launch, many other companies have joined the fray with their versions of a competitive paper."