The company, launched in 2009 by husband and wife team Helen and Dominic Sharland, invested in the Motioncutter high-speed digital laser to produce giftware and stationery for the retail market and is now using the device to offer a laser cutting service for the print trade.
Co-founder Helen Sharland, said: "Our current machines just weren’t viable to enable us to get into the retail market. An option was to send our products to China for cutting but we just didn’t want that with the sort of high-end quality we produce. It would have been detrimental to our bespoke business."
“We got the Motioncutter to cut this new line of products for our retail clients and the volumes and speeds it can work at just opened up a completely new area for us. We can now offer this bureau service for trade, which printers we work with have been asking us to do for years. It can be as simple as cutting labels or perforating maildrops, there are huge possibilities.
“This is a no-brainer for us,” she added.
The Motioncutter was developed by German DM and packaging firm Themediahouse, when it was unable to find a commercial cutter to suit its needs, and was officially launched in November 2013 at Dscoop in Rome.
London print firm Screaming Colour was the first UK printer to install the Motioncutter after its launch.
The sheet-fed device cuts, kiss-cuts, perforates and engraves in one pass and features Namecut technology, which can personalise each sheet.
The machine arrived at the Cutture’s newly opened 250sqm Bedfordshire facility last month.
The company, which employs eight full-time staff and two part-time, is headquartered in London, where it has a design studio and workshop housing two Trotec and one Universal laser cutter.
It produces high-end products from design through to finishing, predominantly for event planners and corporate clients and from July, for retailers.
Sharland said with the move into the retail market and with its new trade service, it was anticipated that the business would eventually be brought under one roof at the Bedfordshire site.
The Motioncutter investment forms part of a £250,000 expansion strategy for the business, which includes boosting staff numbers to support its new retail lines and trade cutting service.
Sharland said a new production manager, from a print background, had recently been appointed and more would follow as new business gained momentum.
The company, which has an annual turnover of around £500,000, raised the funds through a business proposal that won a mix of private investment, Government grant and enterprise loan cash.
"Our aim is to get the business turning over more than £1m within the next one or two years and we are really targetting £5m by 2020, which will only come from volume in our new retail line. That side is now ready to meet demand and we think new bureau service will help to fund it," Sharland said.
