John Mark Watson - Managing Director (Pictured Above)

1.) Tell us a little about the history of John Mark Ltd and the scope of what your company provides?

John Mark Ltd are world leaders in digitally printed wallcoverings at an industrial scale. We specialise purely in the digital print process and have pushed the boundaries of the technology to develop beautiful, innovative luxury wallpapers and a print mark that is second to none. The company was born from years of experience in the wallpaper printing industry by its founder, John Mark Watson, who identified back in 2012 that digital technology was ready to compete with the traditional legacy processes.

2.) What process do you use for printing and how is it different from traditional wallpaper printing?

We print wallpapers digitally, utilising HP Latex technology to produce the most spectacular luxury wallpapers. The main differences between digital printing and the more traditional processes are that, with digital print, there are nominal set up costs (£30.00 which is approx $42 USD to sample a design on our papers) compared to having plates or rollers engraved, which can then only print one design in multiple colourways. The traditional routes require a large financial commitment upfront before you get to put ink on paper, which in the modern world of print on demand is fast becoming redundant for a new breed of up-and-coming designers. The development in HP Latex technology has meant that anyone, whether that be a designer at university, a home crafter or a design professional, can use the same production process to produce as little as one roll of wallpaper upwards. This has fundamental in the transformation, helping designers of all sizes scale their businesses, and with no minimum order quantities (MOQs), designers can create new innovative designs and get them into the marketplace quickly.

3.) What is non-woven paper and why is it superior to traditional papers used in the wallpaper industry?

Non-woven wallpapers are now the industry standard, as they are manufactured sheets of directionally or randomly orientated fibres, bonded together by chemical or other means. Fibres may be manmade or natural in origin. There are different non-woven production technologies: Dry-laid, Spun-laid, Wet-laid & other techniques but the main technology used by our manufacturer to produce our non-woven wallcoverings substrates is the Wet-laid technology. When compared to paper, non-woven wallcoverings have a higher tensile strength, they are more tear-resistant particularly when wet, easier to cut, show no seam separation on the wall, are easier to install and remove from the wall and are much easier than paper to install as you always paste the wall, not the paper. Finally, non-woven wallpapers also have a thicker feel than paper and appear to have a more ‘textile’ feel and appearance.

4.) If a designer wants to have their own designs printed on your wallpaper, what is the process for doing so?

Firstly, we would recommend that a designer get in touch and request a sample pack with our wallpaper bases, so they can choose which base they would like to use. We then offer them the option to sample the design from £30.00 for a single colourway (sampling prices vary dependent on the number of colourways) which would give them a full-scale sample of the repeat at either 520mm or 700mm square. We always recommend sampling as it means there is a hard copy for the designer and one for us to keep in our design library for future work and colour matching. Alternatively, a designer may decide that they would like to go ahead without sampling and get the roll/s of wallpaper printed which we are also happy to do but would always recommend sampling designs first.

5.) If a designer has trouble getting their files ready for print, do you offer assistance in file preparation?

Yes, we have a skilled team in our artwork studio who can help a designer if they have issues with an artwork file due to colour, repeat or pixilation. We also work closely with and recommend A & A Graphics Ltd, based in Deeside, whose work involves separating files for the biggest names in the industry should there be a lot of work involved.

6.) Do you provide proofs for approval before printing?

When an order is placed with us, we request various information in our purchase order template. We then create the quotation which is emailed to the customer to double-check we are printing the correct design/colourway and then send a further confirmation email as a final pre-flight check. We do not print or provide visual proofs prior to printing as this has normally been done prior to placing production orders in the sampling process.

7.) What is the turnaround time, and do you ship internationally?

Our standard lead time is around 10- 15 working days, but in most cases, our deliveries are much quicker. We also offer a drop shipping service within the UK, so a designer can request that we deliver the goods directly to the end customer, under plain or designer branded labels. We also offer international shipping, but a designer would need to arrange their own collection using their own courier.

8.) What trends are you currently seeing in wallpaper prints and patterns?

The current trends we are seeing are that more and more of the smaller up-and-coming ‘Instagram’ designers are purely printing on demand and using our drop shipping service to their customers. We are seeing a huge uptake in natural wallcoverings, especially grasscloth and cork, so we have recently signed an exclusivity deal with Greenland Natural Wallcoverings, based in China to be their sole supplier within the UK and Europe of over 500 bases, offered as plains or printed. And the final trend we are seeing in 2021, is our ‘peel and stick'​ wallpaper, which is targeted at the rental market, which is now a major line for us, however currently more expensive than normal wallpaper due to the cost of the base material.

9.) Where do you see John Mark Ltd. having an advantage over other wallpaper manufacturers?

Firstly, we only produce designers designed wallcoverings. We do not manufacture our own wallpaper brands or have any association with any company that manufactures its own decorative products. This means that we only ever prioritise our designers’ work and not our own collections, which is why we are the fastest to deliver in the industry. The second is that we currently have nine HP Latex machines in the company, so can be running multiple wallpaper bases at any one time which offers us and our customers complete flexibility. And finally, we have a purpose-designed facility with space to test the latest digital print technologies before they hit the mainstream market, so always one step ahead of new innovations.

10.) Do you have plans to expand your business into any other areas of printing?

We have some ideas for the future, but at this stage would not want to give anything away.

Thanks to Matthew Fletcher

Commercial Manager at John Mark Ltd for facilitating this interview, Surface Design News.

https://www.johnmark.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/john_mark_ltd/

https://www.surfacedesignnews.com/

www.johnmark.co.uk

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