A Differing Viewpoint on The Industry Sorrounding The Epson Canvas Printmakers who use Epson Technology

By: nfriend21

Epson canvas can basically be defined as Epson's top pick for an inkjet canvas that best suits the mainstream Epson wide format and small format printer market. It is vitally important for every printmaker, especially those in wide format giclee fine art printmaking, to understand why Epson canvas was chosen by Epson and which experience level of giclee printmaker the Epson canvas will suit best.

It is widely understood that Epson does not develop or produce any of the fine art papers or canvases (nor do any other large equipment manufacturers such as HP, Canon, Roland, etc.), including of course the Epson canvas analyzed in this article. Inkjet fine art papers and canvas development is instead done by manufacturers who specialize in it. Epson therefore selects the most applicable and mainstream canvas from one of these manufacturers to ultimately deliver what they call the Epson canvas to the marketplace. "Versatility" is the key word here. This means that the Epson canvas should produce solid performance when used on the Epson 11880, Epson 9800, Epson 7800, and Epson 4800, which use Ultrachome K3 inks and 8-color technology. The Epson Canvas must also appeal to the widest range of Epson users, which includes individual amateur and professional photographers, artists, signage printing bureaus, and giclee printers. Mainstream Epson users wouldn't complain with the performance of the Epson Canvas. It also directly introduces owners of Epson printers to the fine art printmaking process onto fine art canvas and the challenging world of retail-level fine art sales and marketing.

Nonetheless, there are small range of other fine art canvas manufacturers who's approach differs widely from Epson. Most of these inkjet canvas manufacturers target the different segments of giclee printmakers with specialized products that exploit the key pitfalls of Epson canvas attributes and pricing. Let us examine this in further detail.

Through a highly bureaucratic process involving many people and departments, Epson takes a very long time to test and release new inkjet papers and canvas into the general market. A brand new product such as the Epson canvas might reach the market anywhere from 6-12 months since the date of inception. This significant setbackcosts Epson because competitors have plenty of time to develop and release their own exclusive fine art canvas before Epson does and has a concrete advantage.

Once Epson releases its Epson canvas they are going to, continue with the product for several years prior to any consideration of developing an updated version or a new version. As we have explained, innovating giclee canvas is a highly intense and costly process and therefore OEM's historically tend to let the inkjet canvas run its life cycle. Regrettably such a strategy puts Epson at a disadvantage because competing organizations, who are more nimble and are focused on the giclee canvas market, may quickly and confidently develop fine art products that provide objectively superior print quality. Over the past ten years, several of Epson's competitors have developed giclee canvas that go toe-to-toe with the Epson canvas and undoubtedly deliver superior performance. Not surprisingly, competing giclee canvas manufacturers have significantly and aggressively attracted the professional photography and fine art market who see the long-term benefits through demanding and requiring superior quality.

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Most recognized for his award-winning role as President and CEO of Breathing Color, Inc. Nick Friend, is a widely recognized entrepreneur who has many years of experience in developing and executing proprietary sales and marketing programs as well as building, training, and leading national and international sales forces. His ability to recognize market opportunities, steer corporations to profitability, and lead corporations has been documented with a substantial number of start-up companies including Schematics Productions, Inc., a niche focused men’s apparel company that was subsequently purchased by a foreign distributor and is still in operation today. His diverse experience also extends to bringing related digital imaging products to market, including digital art papers for fine art and photographic reproduction. Here, Mr. Friend regularly contributes articles to prominent trade magazines. He is an honored graduate of the University of Southern California, having studied at the well-renowned Marshall School of Business with emphasis in corporate and investment finance.

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