Digital print team eyes professional photo market with ProCanvas venture

Start-up ProCanvas is looking to plug "a gap in the market" and target the professional photography market with its digital print business.

The Exeter-based company launched a website early last year as a side concern to small format digital printer Clearview Digital Print.

Since then, the owners, which include ProCanvas technical director Richard Hawes, have divested the Clearview business and instead focused their energies on the professional photographic print company.

The four-staff business uses an Epson Stylus Pro 9800 large format printer to reproduce images on 425gsm canvas but soon expects to add to its press battery. The 9800 can print images up to B0+ at resolutions of up to 2,880 x 1,440dpi.

Customers select the canvas dimensions from the online interface prior to uploading the desired image for printing. Jobs are then couriered from the company's Exeter site for delivery.

Hawes, joint director at ProCanvas with wife Karen, said: "We found that we were getting a lot of work from professional photographers who valued the quality of our canvas prints."

He plans to install a new Epson machine at ProCanvas's 120m2 site this year and further build on its 200-plus customer base, which includes clients across the country operating in the fashion and wedding arena.