Our customers worked hard this year to create projects for their clients and communities to bring smiles to faces across the country. From window graphics with SQUID Textiles to unique and fun applications with the versatile HP Satin Wrapping Paper, these creative solutions are sure to inspire you for 2021:
For Flexibility, Privacy & Design, Squid Delivers for this Texas Printer Phillip Cole, sales manager at Thomas Graphics Inc. in Austin, Tex., is always looking for unique products to offer his clients. Once he heard about Squid Textiles, a new self-adhesive window fabric that offers privacy, reduced heat and glare from the sun, and the opportunity to create customized graphics, Cole knew it would be a great addition to his product line. “I like the unique ability to print on it because that’s what we do, and it opens up lots of ideas on how it can be used,” he says.
EPSON Helps Loftipop Grow from Etsy to Amazon In 2013, Rachel O’Neill and her husband, Ryan, started their Sarasota, Fla., based company Loftipop as an Etsy shop. Today, they conceive, design, and print their décor products in a 2,500 sq. ft. warehouse to ship across the country and through Amazon. “When we were researching, we noticed that Epson was the top of the line. We love using their printers for our art prints. I don’t think we’d ever switch to anything else,” says O’Neill.
Georgia Sign Shop Keeps Kids Busy with Giant Wall Art Coloring Decals Earlier this year, when schools started shutting down, Tim and Shari Roe, owners of Outspoken Signs in Marietta, Ga., felt a calling to do something for their community. “A few weeks ago, we wondered how we could help using our capabilities at the shop,” Tim says. After some brainstorming, the Roes came up with a wall decal coloring project to keep kids occupied while sheltering in place.
The Front Porch Sessions – Photographers Get Creative in the Wake of COVID-19 Photographers by nature, are “people” people, and when sheltering in place and social distancing guidelines went into effect in March, they were among the many who were temporarily out of business. It was no different for Elise Wicklund, and her husband Tracy, of Wicklund Photography in Parrish, Fla. “It virtually stopped our business,” Wicklund says. That’s when she got the idea for the “Front Porch Sessions”. She reached out to neighbors and clients to see if they were interested in doing family portraits on their porches and the popularity of the sessions exploded.
What They’re Saying: Vescom “Really is Incredible” Earlier this year, the design team at Century Sign Builders in Albuquerque, N.M., partnered with All 
American Wallpapering to decorate the final phase of Nuevo East – the Graduate Student housing at the University of California San Diego. After researching different products and finishes, DeMenno and the Century Signs team chose Type II compliant Vescom Polster for the wall décor for the UCSD project. “What’s cool about the Polster product is that it has a super light stucco texture to knock down any glare and it just made the whole project seem much more high-end,” DeMenno says.
What They’re Saying: “The HP Films are Good Quality and They Look Great” For over 30 years, Tony Evans has been living his childhood dream through Evans Graphics. “Ever since I was a little boy, it was my dream to work with fire trucks, and I would say that now, around 80% of my work is on emergency vehicles,” he says. Evans uses HP Adhesive Vinyl and Overlaminates on his HP Latex 115 to print and protect graphics for safety vehicles and work vehicles in and around the Monessen, Pa. area.
What They’re Saying: “HP Satin Wrapping Paper is a Unique Way for One Small Thing to Have Impact” Andrew and Kristy Hodge, owners of Red Barn Canvas in Lake Hartwell, Ga., have found success creating year-round customized gift wrap and high-end posters with HP Satin Wrapping Paper. Hodge says in the two years since they started offering it, their wrapping paper business has grown exponentially. “Our first holiday, we probably sold about 20 sheets and now, it’s every other day. It’s not just Christmas holidays, it’s birthdays throughout the year, which is fun.”
Karin Giusti Uses Art to Create Thought-provoking “Third Space” Piece Rhode Island artist Karin Giusti – a Professor Emerita of Art at Brooklyn College – enjoys creating pieces that are close to her heart, but also speak to anyone who sees them. Giusti was awarded an opportunity to create a public art display on the unique exterior of the downtown Providence Civic Center parking garage for PVDfest. Her plan was to treat the exterior of the building as a loom and weave brightly colored ribbons of LexJet 8 Mil Absolute Backlit. “It was an absolute blast! It was so much fun because the backlit and the laminate were manageable and easy to work with.”
The Frame Room is Gifting Back Using HP Satin Wrapping Paper Last year, Kory Mitchell, owner of The Frame Room in Baltimore, wanted to do something
different and creative to help out local charity Friends of Patterson Park, the stewards of Baltimore’s iconic Patterson Park. He heard about the new custom printable HP Satin Wrapping Paper and saw an opportunity to raise money by selling made-to-order gift wrap and donating $5.00 for every sale. Mitchell is partnering with local animal rescue organizations and artists for this year’s outreach program.
Bringing it Home with HP Latex and Media More people are working from home these days, and Reynoldsburg, Ohio-based photographer Jennifer Marshbank certainly has found a way to make the most of this opportunity: she prints all her work on an HP Latex 365 from her home office. From photos to customized wrapping paper and banners to stickers, she can help her clients celebrate any milestone with multiple applications.
Do you have a story you’d like to share with us? Tell us about your projects and you could be featured in 2021!
