Creative workspace D-Lab offers the SureColor SC-T5400 to its guests

Thanks to D-Lab’s Epson SureColor SC-T5400 printer, creatives utilising this innovative shared workspace are now able to ‘print on-demand’ plans & CAD drawings as well as graphics, renderings, posters and full colour photos.

D-Lab is a co-working workspace specialising in providing affordable desk space and meeting room hire to creative individuals and small businesses. Aimed at businesses in the creative industries, including architects, designers and photographers, the space has to cater to a wide range of disciplines and provides access to tools for all of these, including laser cutting, milling, 3D printing and woodworking facilities.

Co-working spaces have come to the fore in srecent years, partly enabled by new technologies that have made it easier and more cost-effective than ever to set up environments that can support the growing number of entrepreneurs and SMEs that need flexible office space as and when they need it.  Spaces like D-Lab provide a vital  stepping -tone in a business’s growth, and often provide supporting services, such as strategic coaching for growing businesses, and access to technology, equipment and resources a small business wouldn’t be able to invest in by itself.

Versatility for different creatives

As D-Lab supports such a wide range of creative businesses, it needs to ensure any equipment or technology it offers is as versatile as possible, ensuring it provides value to as many of the resident disciplines as possible. So, when it came time to replace an existing, aging printer, D-Lab chose an Epson SureColor SC-T5400 – a printer recognised for its production flexibility and creative versatility. The new machine is now used in-house by nearly all businesses sharing the D-Lab workspace.

“Versatility was really a key incentive for the T-5400,” says David Kirkland, Founder of D-Lab.

“We wanted to ensure that the machine could be used by as many different types of creative professionals as possible. We also have limited space, so practical to bring in a photo printer and a plotter and a large format printer. Finding a machine that could meet so many diverse requirements, without ever compromising on the quality of any of them, was the key motivator in our decision."

Lower running costs

D-Lab also wanted to reduce the ongoing cost of at its workspace, and the SC-T5400 has also achieved this, with Epson’s high capacity inks, a printhead designed to last the lifetime of machine, and a unique Nozzle Verification Technology all helping to minimise running costs over the lifetime of the printer, lowing the total cost of ownership.

“The SC-T5400 has already saved us around £2,000 in running costs in comparison to the printer it replaced. In addition, printing time is around 50% faster and we also appreciate the lower environmental impact of this printer as it’s more efficient in terms of both ink and energy use” adds Kirkland.

Supporting the local community

As a social enterprise, D-Lab also has a commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration at a local level, running educational programs to help prepare the next generation of creative professionals for the future economy. These workshops include coding clubs, introductions to techniques like laser cutting and practical electronics, and upcycling classes.

Adding more versatile equipment, such as the SC-T5400, into D-Lab’s technology portfolio has also enabled the company to offer an even wider range of these workshops, with the ease-of-use of the printer, another factor in its selection, meaning creative professionals can be confident in using the printer as part of the workflow for in collaboration or training session.