Britten Studios Wins Inaugural Inkspiration Award Presented by Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett Packard hosted the first annual Inkspiration awards on April 14th in Houston, Texas. During the ceremonial gala, the company announced the recipients of its prestigious awards for excellence in creative print design.

A team of expert judges was assembled from across the printing industry to determine the competition’s best-in-show. The judges were highly respected professionals in the world of print, including Sabine Letz (President, PaperSpecs) and Bruce Leigh Myers (Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology) that offered insight and expertise that encompassed printing, marketing, design and technology.

From a field of 150 entrants, Britten Studios was selected as the winner of the large-format banner category. When the announcement was made during the awards ceremony, company president Paul Britten was on hand to receive the first place trophy. “It’s a real honor to get the Inkspiration Award from HP,” commented Mr. Britten. “Being creative in the workplace is one of our core company values, and it feels really great to be recognized for our creativity at an important event.”

For its submission, Britten Studios presented its work on the famous Plaza Hotel in New York City. The company prepared a building wrap for the hotel that would hide the structure’s edifice while it was undergoing architectural renovation. The building wrap was composed of many large banners made from vinyl mesh. In total, eighteen mesh panels were installed to complete an enormous wrap that covered 62,000 square feet, a space larger than the area of a football field.

The banner was designed to perfectly mimic the building’s underlying façade of white clay brick. Every window, brick, sill and sconce was painstakingly drawn by hand and digitally printed onto the building wrap. At a glance, the installation completely hid any sign of renovation and reflected the building’s historic beauty and architectural significance.

According to Hewlett-Packard, the purpose of the award is recognize the most innovative work produced with digital printing technology in America. “Rapidly changing market conditions are inspiring brands to find creative new ways to reach consumers,” said Steve Sakumoto, vice president and general manager, HP Inc. “The winning entries are representative of the exciting, high-quality work…[made possible by]…advanced digital printing technology.”

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is the global leader in print technology headquartered in Palo Alto, California with an annual revenue of $111.454 billion. Britten Studios is a privately held full-service design studio located in Traverse City, Michigan.