|
TheBuzz Erika Engle |
COURTESY ROBO-ART HAWAII
A technician for Robo-Art Hawaii designed a graphic of world-class surfer Andy Irons for a Coors Light advertisement in this undated photo. Robo-Art's technology, used to print graphics on all sorts of surfaces, is drawing lots of interest.
Graphics firm makes
colorful splash into marketThe term "inkjet printer" commonly evokes an image of a desktop device that spits out documents. The one used by Robo-Art Unlimited LLC isn't loaded with paper and prints on just about any vertical surface.
The company does business as Robo-Art Hawaii and lists Paradise Beverages among its clients.
Several of Paradise's trucks, festooned with Robo-Art-applied images of Heineken, Amstel Light and Coors, made a splash at the Sony Open earlier this year.
"We had a lot of positives, a lot of inquiries from the people, interested in doing graphics," said Alex Cho, operations manager for Robo-Art Hawaii.
The company has also been tapped to help promote Aspen Edge, Coors' new brand of low-carb beer. Graphics supplied by the brewer were painted on seven trucks for the brand's debut yesterday.
Not that it's all about alcohol.
The company has decorated a dragster, printed baby birthday banners and painted images on wall hangings and shutter doors for home interiors.
"On vertical blinds ... you could paint an image on one side and then when you turn it to the other, another image shows," Cho said.
Clients supply the graphics, which Robo-Art scans for duplication any number of times.
At a recent reception at Robo-Art's Koaha Place shop in Halawa, pictures of attendees were snapped, scanned and printed on the hood of a car. The images were then cleaned off by a technician, to show how easy they are to remove.
That and other samples of finished work can be seen at www.roboartunlimited.com.
Robo-Art's Hawaii investors own U.S. rights to the technology, developed in Japan by L.A.C. Corp.
"The advantage of our graphics is that it's able to be very temporary and easily removable, with no damage to the finish of the vehicle," Cho said.
The graphics will stand up to rain and car-washing products and can be made temporary or permanent with clear coating. The printer can also adjust for irregularities in the surface being painted.
"It's cost-efficient to change (the image) on a regular basis," he said.
Rates start at $12 to $13 an hour "depending on the complexity of the image," Cho said. There is a minimum set-up fee.
Long a local leader in large-format graphics, Fleet Street Graphics welcomes Robo-Art to the industry.
"We're two different breeds of cat, but ultimately I welcome them into the marketplace," said Clarence Silva Jr., owner of Fleet Street and president of its parent company, Styleline Corp.
He started out doing vehicle striping and similar work in 1975 and the company morphed into his current business, customizing high-end vinyl graphic decals, in 1993.
Fleet Street's work is everywhere, from a splashy, Corona Beer-bedecked Hummer to bovine Beetles for Cowabunga! Computers, and from rainbow-wrapped City buses to the Polynesian Cultural Center's elaborately decorated tour buses.
The company also applies images on sidewalks, tabletops, walls, lightboxes and other architectural features, in addition to other types of work, which are displayed at fleetstreet.net. The company's rates vary.
"We've done it both by square feet and also by the job. A lot of times the actual production is not the main thing," Silva said. Much of Fleet Street's work involves branding and designing.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
