CARDIFF SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN INVEST IN THE HP STITCH S300 TO EXPAND THEIR TEXTILE DEPARTMENT
“The HP Stitch technology offers a high-quality finish with a straightforward user interface, allowing students to use it independently. The machines capacity to perform a lot of its own maintenance means that in a busy workshop with many processes, the HP Stitch could be added as a new machine, without compromising the running of the rest of the equipment” - Katherine Wibmer
Cardiff School of Art and Design Invest in the HP STITCH S300 to Expand their Textile Department
Choosing which University to attend is a difficult choice for the young creative. Often decisions are made for the wrong reasons, simply because the students don’t know what questions to ask – or what facilities they may need. And yet the technologies that the next generation have access too during their learning experience will, without doubt, impact their creativity and future employment potential.
We recently caught up with Katherine Wibmer, of Cardiff School of Art and Design to discover how their investment in the latest HP Stitch technology has expanded their printing facility to ensure that students have access to state-of-the-art printing technology and expert training. We asked Katherine, the technical demonstrator for Print and Textiles at Cardiff, to explain the printing facilities offered at Cardiff Met and how they aim to support students’ creativity?
“At Cardiff Met we offer a wide range of printing facilities, in both digital and hand-print techniques. On site we have the Print Studio, housing a range of digital print options, including UV print. We have a paper print workshop, which offers Paper screen printing, Relief printing, Intaglio, and Stone Lithography. In the Textile print workshop, we have facilities for Screen printing with a range of mediums, Lino printing and Mono printing”.
With a large suite of tools and technologies, traditional and digital, Katherine went on to explain:
“A large part of our textile development teaching encourages students to experiment and combine techniques, creating innovate and exciting surfaces. The HP Stitch S300 allows for rapid, high-quality printing of a design onto fabric, which can either be left as a finished print, or then worked further into using processes such as digital embroidery. The speed and quality of the Sublimation printer allows for conversation between digital design and physical process, allowing students to push the boundaries of digital design”.
“The HP Stitch technology offers a high-quality finish with a straightforward user interface, allowing students to use it independently. The machines capacity to perform a lot of its own maintenance means that in a busy workshop with many processes, the HP Stitch could be added as a new machine, without compromising the running of the rest of the equipment”.
With a busy department to run we asked Katherine if ease of use was a big factor in the choice of machinery partner: “Definitely! The ease of use for the students means that it is accessible to a much wider range of students - not just those of a textile background. Students from product, fashion, fine art, and many other areas have already benefited from using the printer on a range of mediums. From a technician perspective, the ease of the maintenance of the machine makes it a perfect addition to a busy workshop”.
“Once students have completed an induction, they can use the machine independently on arrangement. Predominantly, the departments using the machine are Textile design and Fashion design, however it is also being used by fine art, product design, Illustration, and a range of other students.
With so many creative courses and disciplines on offer we asked Katherine if the student’s cross lots of market sectors in their projects - Apparel, Sportswear, Interior Décor: “Yes! The wonderful thing about so many courses using the equipment is that we are really able to see what it can do in different sectors. Students have printed onto fabrics for interiors, fashion, but also for entirely different applications, such as creating board games and fine art installations”.
On arrangement, students can sample a wide range of textiles (almost 20 fabrics) stocked by the University including- Acetate Satin, Crystal Organza, Microfiber, Polyester canvas Albany to name just a few.
Cardiff School of Art offers a wide selection of applications and materials for their students to explore.
Beyond textiles the college also offers sublimation ready metal, ceramic and perspex for students to sample. They welcome experimentation, and so, providing the material is deemed safe, students a can bring in materials they wish to experiment with.
Practical learning is a vital factor for academic development. Katherine explained the benefits: “In a subject such as textile design, I think it is vital that in an increasingly digital world - students remain aware that textile is predominantly a tactile subject. While digital design is now the mainstream - being able to print these designs easily onto fabric allows for greater understanding of fibre properties and designing appropriately for different fibre types.
It also allows for conversation between digital and hand techniques. When a digital print can be so easily produced, it can then be sampled onto with hand techniques, meaning that digital process becomes integrated with traditional, rather than seeing digital and traditional as competing industries”.
Digital textile technologies are constantly evolving and so we asked Katherine: What is the biggest challenge that young textile designers face with new technology?
“I believe that the speed in which technology is moving challenges young textile designers, as it is important to keep up and remain up to date with the latest skill sets. As such, having such a straightforward print process allows more time to be dedicated to teaching digital design techniques.”
Finally, we asked how important the relationship with the technology provider was, in support of, the installation of the HP Stitch S300:
“Cardiff School of Art purchased their HP Stitch from RA Smart who gave excellent advice and assistance. In the initial stages, they helped me to assess what equipment would be right for us and our requirements, all the way through to installation and training. They taught me how to best use and maintain the machine and advised me on how best to manage student usage. They have equipped me with all I need to teach, run, and maintain the machine, and the confidence that should I have any further questions, I can easily get in touch”.
