The glass processing industry has witnessed a major trend towards using printed interior glass, including using large panels as a major design element. This has been driven by the advent of ditital, multi-colour ceramic printing, which has made short-to-medium runs cost effective for the first time. This, in turn, has freed both architects and designers who, like most creative people, hate being restrained by the inherent limitations of their media. DIP-Tec has been a major driving force behind this trend. It manufactures digital glass printers, the GlassJet series, which combine special software systems with ceramic ink-jet printing. It is now common knowledge that digital glass printing is a cleaner and less expensive than screening, in addition to which digital files require a lot less storage space than screens. In this article the author describes how digital ceramic printing provides designers and architects enhanced creative freedom.
