HOW'D THEY PRINT THAT?: Wallpaper Warp and Wrap

A handful of designers and printers are surrounding clients in creativity—literally—by printing custom wallpaper on demand and transforming spaces with repeating patterns, 3D images and warped wall coverings.

In Germany, Surrealien is changing the wallpaper-surface relationship with a technique that warps existing patterns around light fixtures, doorways (shown) and windows. After the client selects any vector- or pixel-based pattern, the firm uses a customized program to distort the image according to room measurements.

Although the software uses a mathematical function based on Coons theory, industrial designer Tom Hanke says the result is nonetheless individual, handling images as large as 13×10´. Custom wallpaper printer Berlin Tapete prepares digital files using its own Wallcreator software, first dividing the images into panels and then printing them onto non-woven fleece wallpaper.

Astek Wallcoverings, Van Nuys, CA, has found its niche creating custom walls on demand and re-creating vintage wallpapers for TV, movies and retailers, often printing a repeating pattern from a single image. Source images are scanned on an Epson 1640XL or a Colortrac 36´´ feed scanner, depending on their size, using Photoshop to create a repeating pattern. “The repeats can vary in size tremendously,” says design head Scott Pitters, from 2´´ squares to 20×10´ mural sections.

Digital files are printed on a variety of materials and applied with a clear, non-staining adhesive. Pitters says the company’s new Durst Rho Pictor 600 UV-curable inkjet device can print on any of the 600 available wallpaper grounds, including faux snakeskin, black vinyl and gold foil.

Back in Europe, U.K.-based Blanc Wall spent two years perfecting a technology that scans anything—from heavily textured oil paintings to photos to fabric swatches to fossils. Its IScan3D flatbed scanner, which measures 5×5´, uses a proprietary lighting system to capture texture and shadow details in 3D relief. Generating a clean color workflow was one of the biggest software challenges. “Because we’re printing unusual substrates, there’s a lot of calibration required,” says managing director Andrew Ainge.

Data is processed through Photoshop; RIP software is used for final enlargements. The life-like coverings are printed on Epson wide-format inkjet printers using its UltraChrome K3 high density pigment inks. ProGraphics Network’s PhotoTex paper is applied to walls in sections. The self adhesive-backed fabric is waterproof and repositionable, with fine texture delivering up to 2540 dpi. The end result is a rich effect similar to Trompe l’oeil.

By scanning a 360° panoramic image and processing the data in CAD, Blanc Wall designers can encapsulate an entire room—all four walls, ceiling and even the floor: The firm can print the same images on white carpet using solvent-based inkjet.