To discover high level ceramics printing, we visit a young company wich targeted partnerships with JetSet can satisfy a very demanding market.

Sertile inkjet ceramic press manufactured at JetSet

The production of Italian painted ceramics – tiles but not only – is known as one of the activity concentrated in a specific area that shares the excellence, from Ferrari to fine ceramics.
Sertile – the company we visit gives us the opportunity to discover the secrets of innovative digital inkjet presses –, had a brilliant idea: make agreements with the leading experts of the inkjet printing to provide solutions to a demanding market managing to expand its offer.
We discovered Sertile, company of Fiorano Modenese, between Sassuolo and Maranello, thanks to JetSet, the technologically advanced company of Bergamo specialized in the design and manufacture of OEM inkjet printers with high added value, according to the principle of Sergio Ferrari, JetSet manager “where others can not reach, we are there.”
Matteo Coppelli – owner at Sertile – explains the secrets of printing on ceramics, but also on glass, laminate and other rigid substrates for furnishing. A press that compared to the traditional needs particular care. To begin with, the four-color CMYK is not based on the classic process colors, but it uses magenta gold, cobalt blue, lemon yellow, black. Of course other colors can be added depending on the application, like metallic inks such as platinum, gold and others. The software managing the selection must take into account if the print will look like ‘cold’, ie not cooked or cooking with, or even ‘third fire’ when they require very special finishes, for example three-dimensional effects.

Standard plotters are not enough

Because printing on ceramics traditionally relies on analogue screen printing, it is clear that the relief effect is quite common. In the case of digital inkjet printing this is achieved, or with the second firing, or directly with reactive inks, as we see in some samples at Sertile.

Glamour effects on tilesnella

Digital printing for the ceramic goes back to the ’90s, but only since 2012 has made enormous progress and the market has exploded.
“Because we come from the silkscreen – says Matteo Coppelli – color density is in our DNA. For this we can not settle the plotter that are on the market. These were good in the early days, and some manufacturers have proposed printers respectable. ”
But today the requirements have changed. In addition to an increase in productivity, ceramists require brilliant colors, solids, and especially resistant to light, abrasion, repeated washings, all normal conditions under which the printers are not always able to respond.
“For this reason – he added – the customers do not ask a printer, but a solution for their specific need. And that’s why we had to turn to the best experts in this field, in particular JetSet, that designs machines according to the inks, and the overwhelming support of the required end result.”

Gold is printed on ceramic with inkjet solution

For this reason JetSet goes into action. The company has acquired such a technical expertise on inks and media, working in every sector, from corrugated cardboard to fabric, from wood to glass, that always they can find the optimum solution of a print machine that we design together.
Press machines that should be functional, but also elegant and we discover that this is a need for Sertile: “Yeah, our customers want to provide a printed at the highest level of quality, we want to be stylish too – tells us Matteo.” It seems incredible but these digital presses – single pass or with movable heads – have the external structure in lacquered wood, with ceramic effect.

Ceramic decoration for pubs and disco

Sertile is a young and very dynamic company: to provide printing solutions, especially for the foreign market, it is able to offer global solutions of decorated ceramics, following the priciple of partnership, in cooperation with two companies each specializing in a specific field of decoration: OVO Italy specializing in the production of decorative ceramic or glass for interior decoration, pubs and clubs; and Glamora company that produces wallpaper luxury – they decorated the offices of Google in New York: with Sertile they propose Glamtec, a ceramic thin laminate to cover the walls even in contact with water.