Durham-based Azutura has partnered with a number of creatives to develop a personality-driven wall mural service - and is seeking more partnerships. The move is in response to a shift in its customer demographic owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
Azutura uses HP machines to print the murals. It runs two HP Latex 570 printers and one HP Latex 315, alongside an older Latex machine. Prior to Covid-19 they were used for commercial orders, but as artist liaison, David Atkinson explained: "We ran a skeleton staff for a short period but business has picked up as people are looking to improve their homes with wall murals and wall decals."
He pointed out that with the popularity of wall murals and decals increasing, Azutura wanted to offer murals using more than stock photography. "We have partnered with over 100 artists, illustrators, designers and photographers. We want our customers to get to know them through blog posts and interviews, and to make it easy to for them choose their favourite designs from each artist.
"We are also creating a local connection. City skylines are a very popular choice for wall murals but with stock photographs you tend to see the same images again and again. For example, we're based in the north-east where the Tyne Bridge is an iconic landmark. Through the designs available on Azutura people can see brand-new views and concepts by local creators, which give real personality to a space. We are actively looking for more artists, as many in the UK as possible - in every city and every town."
Atkinson added: "HP Latex ink is safe to use for use in domestic settings and HP-branded wallpaper media is also easy to install and to clean - many of our customers install them in their bathrooms. And the speed of turnaround allows Azutura to offer next-day delivery."