Big Picture - June/July 2020 - 10

beyond décor

The Current Climate
How to adapt your interior décor print business. | by Rachel Nunziata

BIG PICTURE

Julne/July 2020

s small businesses in the wide-format print

community continue to push through the
COVID-19 global pandemic through federal
grants, having applied for PPP Loan Forgiveness, implementing new safety policies for
employees returning from stay-at-home orders, and wondering what future normalcy looks like, it's critical to understand the market you serve.
I've said this from the very beginning of my career in the
print industry, especially when my curiosity piqued in creative
markets like décor, understanding your customers' customer
is truly where the rubber meets the road. We've banded
together to get through this global crisis, but it's caused a
massive ripple effect on nearly all industries, beyond our peers
and wide-format print customers. In the A&D (architectural
and design) market, commercial construction isn't thriving as
it once was, which affects verticals like hospitality, which
correlates with the travel and airline industries. That could
have a major impact on wallcoverings. When you start to do
some digging, you also learn in large commercial construction
projects, supply-chain constraints like material and product
delivery halted from China have caused project timelines to
be disrupted and plans to crumble. These details leave
developers and managers almost no choice but to cancel jobs
or stagger phases of the project so different teams can work
within social distancing requirements.
There's still a glimmer of hope to overcome, and help
others overcome, through the tools and resources we already
have. The tools I'm speaking of are definitely my favorite
aspects of digital print: our creative technology and ability to
customize, manufacture on-demand, print one-off projects,
and produce entire product lines in large-volume runs. That's
exactly how PSPs with textile print capabilities have been able
to respond to the crisis, by manufacturing PPE (cloth face
masks or CDC-compliant plastic shields). Textile software

companies and other technology-based companies in the
print industry have teamed up with companies that complement their products, offering free webinars, training sessions,
or other solutions to quickly adapt print systems to produce
PPE on demand.
In the marketplace, Vida, a global ecommerce-based
partnership of artists, vendors, and manufacturers leveraging
digital print for home décor products and fashion, is manufacturing reusable, 100-percent cotton protective masks designed
to be used with a PM2.5, six-layered, activated carbon filter
inserted within the fabric. Vida has committed to donating 10
percent of profits from its Classic Masks and Cloth LA x SF
Edition masks in collaboration with a Los Angeles-based
maker to local COVID-19 relief funds. Its efforts have grabbed
the attention of Vogue, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and others. (To
learn more about Vida, read the Beyond Décor column in the
March 2018 issue.)
PLAN AND PIVOT
In a year as unique as 2020, with multiple, complex obstacles
thrown at us almost every day, there are key areas of the
interior décor industry you should take into consideration for
planning and pivoting your print business. Construction
timelines and producing PPE may not be relevant based on
your current customer base, but there's a lesson to be
learned. Even on a smaller, more local scale, your customers
are likely experiencing budget cuts that affect what they can
specify in a project, so your material expertise is important.

RACHEL NUNZIATA is a digital print business and market development specialist
with an undeniable enthusiasm for interior and home décor segments. She is a
graduate of Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida, and has a knack
for enabling synergies between artists, interior designers, and industry experts.
You can connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter @RachelNunziata.

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/bp_201803/index.php#/p/16 https://www.twitter.com/RachelNunziata?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelnunziata/

Big Picture - June/July 2020

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