By Melissa Donovan
Wallcoverings are considered for a number of environments, including retail, commercial spaces, and the home. Places of worship aren’t institutions that may initially come to mind. However, one print service provider (PSP) found itself meeting the needs of a local congregation when it was contacted to print multiple wall graphics featuring religious icons.
Above: MP Repro uses its HP Latex printers to create wallcoverings for high-profile environments like the Hotel Monville and Romanian Orthodox Church of Saints Michael and Gabriel Archangels.
Quick Look
Founded in Montreal, QC, Canada in 1964, MP Repro works with clients across Canada, primarily serving the Montreal metropolitan area with additional work throughout the QC province. At its start, the company employed three out of one 2,000 square foot facility. Today, it staffs 65 employees out of two locations totaling 40,000 square feet of space.
Main service offerings include narrow format offset and digital printing for presentation materials, training manuals, stationery, and promotional items; signage and product identification solutions such as labels, panel fronts, identification plates, diagrams, exterior plaques, precision scales, and skill plates; three-dimensional printing; and digital large format.
Offering Wallcoverings
Wallcoverings represent ten percent of MP Repro’s overall business. Its client base for this application is diverse, according to Carmela Martinez, president/CEO, MP Repro. This includes everyone from interior designers for permanent décor and commercial spaces to event or festival organizers for temporary event décor. Other requests derive from designers and curators of museum exhibitions and similar attractions.
MP Repro utilizes three HP Inc. devices for digital printing. Its first printer was the HP Latex 365 purchased in 2016 and then HP Latex 570 printers were purchased in both 2018 and 2019.
“The HP Latex printers allow us to control print quality and speed, according to the project requirements as well as large flexibility of print media. Latex inks are durable and provide an excellent color range. These printers allowed us to grow our wide format print business,” admits Martinez.
The PSP outputs on a variety of substrate types with its HP Latex printers. For wallcovering projects, it chooses material based on performance and durability. “We offer a range of adhesive-backed media brands that are eco-friendly, easy to apply, removable, non-permanent, or permanent,” explains Martinez.
Church Design
In 20017, MP Repro visually transformed the Romanian Orthodox Church of Saints Michael and Gabriel Archangels. Located in Montreal, the congregation hoped to change the look of what was once a Catholic place of worship to Orthodox through the use of religious icons and decorative details placed on the walls and ceilings.
According to Martinez, one reason the church explored digital print was timing. “The church administration hoped to officially inaugurate the church within the year and knew that digital printing would be faster than the traditional paint method.”
It was determined that the HP Latex 365 printer would be used. The job was printed on a total of 700 square feet of adhesive-backed media.
MP Repro choose a versatile wallcovering material for the job that could withstand fading, offer scratch resistance, and handle cleaning. It also had to be installed on a variety of different surfaces including vinyl and wood—and not only vertical walls but curved and concave spaces.
The wallcovering was printed in long, overlapping vertical strips with a maximum width of 48 inches and one-inch of headroom. Each printed piece was laminated to enhance durability.
Ease of installation was especially important as some of sections were designed to be placed in areas of the church that were up to 20 feet high.
Forward Thinking
MP Repro’s wallcovering work has accelerated since the 2017 project. Its commitment to technology and tackling unique jobs makes the PSP perfectly poised to offer a vast application portfolio to its client base.
Aug2020, Digital Output
