Veika, the innovative Lithuanian wallpaper materials producer, has now developed an entirely new printing technology. DIMENSE does exactly what its name implies – it “dimenses“ digital printing. This pioneering technology makes it possible to print the embossing at the same time as the item is digitally printed. So structure and motif can be perfectly adapted to each other – at any required size. This offers totally new opportunities to the wallpaper industry and makes what so far seemed impossible possible. For example a tree-bark wallpaper which not only looks real but feels just like a real tree when touching it.

Up to now, the embossing had limited the production of wallpapers. In order to create the 3D effect, a print cylinder for exactly this embossed pattern had to be produced. And the size/format of the embossing was limited and could not exceed the circumference of the cylinder. This is why conventionally produced wallpapers are very restricted as far as their structure is concerned – while every imaginable color and print is available, the embossing had always been simple patterns that recur over the entire wallpaper.

This limiting factor inspired the engineers at Veika to create something new. “We were simply unhappy that only identical embossings were possible, and wanted to be able to create wallpapers where the embossing fits the motifs“, explains Dr. Aleksey Etin from Veika. “The solution we came up with is DIMENSE, because with DIMENSE you simply print embossing.”

In order to do this, Veika had to develop a whole new device. It took Veika’s R&D department, which consists of 25 people, several years to obtain a totally new kind of printer. The result has been named DIMENSOR, a printer that works with the environmentally-friendly inks and base material that Veika also invented and which it distributes under the brand name ECODECO. This printing technology is able to change the whole wallpaper industry: Since no rotation cylinder needs to be produced for each and every design, with DIMENSOR small batches become possible, new designs can be produced and tested easily and quickly and even individual wallpapers for individual clients are possible.

DIMENSOR printers are available from next year on for selected wallpaper producers, adding a new dimension to the good old wallpaper.

Dimensor allows simultaneous printing with embossing in a continuous way. It is made of two major components – inkjet printer and calender. For printing digitally embossed images special preparation of files as well as Dimense media and inks are required. Printing Technology – piezoelectric inkjet, two staggered printheads; total amount of nozzles: 1440 (8 lines x 180 nozzles) in each printhead.

VEIKA UAB is a producer of innovative wallpaper materials including revolutionary Ecodeco and Dimense as well as water and solvent-based printing inks and coatings for screen, gravure and flexo as well as for inkjet printing. The product application field is the wall-covering industry, as well as wide format digital printing. Currently based in Vilnius, VEIKA was established in 1991 and has expanded extensively over the years – a wide range of research and development facilities have been built, including laboratories dedicated to product applications, analytics, pilot printing and design. VEIKA pays a great deal of attention to the quality of its products, environmental protection, and occupational health and safety, while satisfying strict legal and other mandatory requirements. A focus on pollution prevention is a vital part of the company’s commitments.

Prepared on the basis of information from Veika.