25 exciting printing applications by Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath

During an elaborate presentation on 8 November at Print Fair, Prof Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath looks at how change is the only constant. He observes how materials and technologies are repurposed to make profitable businesses around the world and explains the future of printing as a repurposed technology.

A repurposed house made by Dan Philips an architect in Texas. All the materials including the fan are recycled materials which were repurposed to build this house.

Push Design introduced the concept of disposable office. It has created a range of office furniture made from recycled paper.

Vinyl billboards are used nationwide as temporary banner advertisements and are usually discarded into landfills. The US-based Vy & Elle collects these vinyl billboards and repurposes them to make attractive bags.

Eco-Flexx came up with recyclable polyethylene paper, which is being used by all the Fortune 500 companies for their hoardings.

A chef, Homaro Cantu invented edible paper. The sausage in the picture is printed food, produced by using inkjet printer. Also, the paper where menu is printed is edible.

Sonic Fabric, an extremely unique textile woven from 50% recycled audio cassette tape and 50% polyester is audible (running a tape head over it) and upcycled product

Nendo re-branded a product called Rebondir with mutant material. It provided granite finish on wood and wood finish on granite thereby toughness of granite is available on wood and softness of wood is available on granite.

A project named Symbiosis by Jelte van Abbema wherein bacteria are injected in advertising board. The bacteria germinates and the colour of the board changes everyday. He also created the bacteria font.

Aerogel is a low-density solid-state material derived from gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas. It is a fantastic insulator. It is nicknamed as frozen smoke, solid smoke or blue smoke due to its semi-transparent nature and the way light scatters in the material.

Wellboard 3D printed consists of 100% wood pulp board with 3D printing. It is hot-pressed to form corrugated boards without the use of adhesives.

Padlab introduced Graphic Glass in which air is injected inside the glass at the manufacturing stage thereby various designs can be made inside the glass at the manufacturing stage itself.

With Qmass's Ombrae (shadow) system, an image is translated onto an array of optical tiles. Each optical tile is a beveled, cylindrical "pixel" with an angled surface that reflects a particular, precisely determined amount of light. This array of optical tiles literally sculpts the reflected light into an image.

It is a material proxy, which enables textile finish on concrete called as concrete blond

A designer Kenya Hara developed signages for the Katta Civic Polyclinic, which increases visibility due to the use of large type, and type laid directly into the floor. The change in ambiance has resulted in 20% improvement in recovery of patients.

This is a concrete video screen. Fibre optics are embedded in to the concrete and the wall functions as a screen

Thermochromatic concrete enables dynamic information to be displayed within concrete surfaces

A renewable energy display was developed for remote areas where power systems are not accessible. The mechanism can rotate and generate electricity

MIT Media Lab developed pulp-based computing system

Manufactured by Lambert Kamps, the transparent roof tiles are integrated with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and designed to display text, pictures, and other graphical content in multiple colors.

S Lövenstein BV integrates luminescent particles within gravel floors in order to enhance the emergency-exit signage within a building.

Designed by Rachel Wingfield, Digital Dawn is a luminous textile that responds to environmental stimuli. Digital Dawn functions as a traditional window blind with a reactive surface growing in luminosity in response to its surroundings.

Solid Poetry is a concrete tile that reacts on water. It's a symbiosis between concrete and water. As the water flows onto the concrete tile, images or patterns will appear.

Litmuscreen(pH-sensitive exterior textile surface) This architectural and product design material is based on Lithumus paper, and changes colors (red or blue) regarding local air pollution conditions or during rains

Juice Skin, haptic packaging designed by Naoto Fukasawa. He changed the surface of the package to imitate the colour and texture of the fruit skin

Masayo Ave and an architect and a teacher developed a new way of teaching called haptic literacy for blind so that they can hear the sound and learn how materials behave.

Printing technology has also evolved over the years and will repurpose itself in time to come.

25 exciting printing applications by Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath