Digital Design Hub

Our industrial digital embroidery machine can stitch up to 12 colours in any one design, and has 200 types of stitches including text. Students will learn how to convert illustrator files to stitches, using industry standard software. It's also possible to applique and laser cut your designs onto larger pieces of fabric. 

Laser cutting can be used by students from a wide range of courses. Students can make business cards, cut letters, create prototype packaging nets and different products. Textile Design and Fashion students can use this equipment to produce their own cut out designs on fabrics, create decals for screen printing, as well as many other creative applications.

The Mimaki fabric printer prints directly onto specially prepared natural fabrics, such as silk, cotton, linen and canvas. We stock a range of fabrics which can be purchased from our on-line shop, once you've made a booking. You can print samples or lengths of fabric, as well as individual large scale imagery.

With this process you first print onto paper, and then heat transfer your image or design onto sublimation-friendly surfaces which can be bags, mugs, placemats, aluminium and chromolux. You can also produce large pieces of printed fabric using this process. Students from a wide range of subject areas such as Graphic Design, Illustration, Product Design, Interiors, Costume and Set Design, Textiles, Fine Art, Fashion and Photography will find this a useful resource for their coursework.

The UV printer prints directly onto the flat surface of an object. There are a wide range of materials that this printer will print onto for prototyping, such as wood, metal, plastic, stone, slate, acrylic, leather, PVC, tiles, card, and many other flat surfaces, all up to A3 size. This printer delivers a high quality finish, and can print white and clear, which means it's possible to print onto black or dark coloured objects.

Our Roland VS-540i printer can print onto a wide range of different vinyls which students can use to produce decals, stickers and t-shirt vinyls. These can then be applied to a wide range of surfaces for both indoor and outdoor use. 

Our Epson wide format printers are used in a variety of ways from printing screen printing positives to high quality photographic images. Students are encouraged to have a hands-on approach, as with all the equipment in the Digital Design Hub. We have a wide range of papers from 120gsm paper to high quality cotton Innova photographic paper, which can be purchased through our on-line shop after you've made a booking. We also have a large scale vacuum press for mounting your printed images. 

With the perfect binder you can soft bind A4 or A5 pages together with a hot glue to make a book. Illustration students often use this method to make their own illustrated books. All students are welcome to use this equipment once they've had an induction.