April Tosch-Jamjoom poses next to a custom printed wall-hanging.

TEXTILE designing, the age-old art, is now in its most unique and decoratively patterned form. The art seems to be benefiting a great deal from the ongoing Internet and digital revolution.

As against artists who have excelled in their skills to come up with beautiful, eye-catching designs and colors, there are now graphics departments that can create custom patterns or retouch existing image files to suit one’s needs, whether they are for furniture coverings, children’s or adults’ clothes, shawls, scarves and even wall-hangings.

“Now it is possible to have fabric digitally printed with any image, text, scanned photograph or downloaded file that you choose,” said April Tosch-Jamjoom of a company that specializes in custom printed fabrics. “We print custom fabrics for upholstery, curtains’ soft furnishings, clothing and giveaways as well,” she said, pointing at dozens of such pieces on display at Ann Meredith’s custom printed fabrics show in a villa at Amro Bin Abqua Street, off Prince Sultan Street in Jeddah.

“It’s so beautiful. It’s gorgeous. It’s colorful,” were some of the comments from invitees and media representatives at the three-day exhibition that opened on Tuesday. Any image may be printed directly on different weights of silk, cotton and linen fabrics. All the raw fabrics used are chemically treated to absorb ink and are imported from the United States. “Local fabrics may not be used as the inks will not be permanent,” said April.

Ann Meredith started operations in 2002 and remains the “first and only business” of this kind in the Gulf. “Introducing and succeeding in a new industry in this region is something we are extremely proud of. There are only 12 similar companies in the world operating on our scale. Since there was no other company to learn from, we had to navigate up a very steep learning curve to reach the level that we are at now,” said April.

Interior decorators are using April’s operations to make one-of-a-kind custom fabrics. Its graphics department creates custom images or uses the images provided to print on fabrics. Its fabrics are used on sofas, chairs, curtains and large sized wall-hangings. “In addition, we have had the opportunity to work for a few businesses who have used us to print their logos on fabrics for office decor,” she said.

Working on a corporate level is something that April places great emphasis on. She is offering her services to hotels, spas and airlines which can use her fabrics for amenity and guest gift items. “It’s a great step forward in marketing. Businesses can offer their guests something unique and re-usable that incorporates a prospective company’s logo, mission statement, or relevant photographs into beautifully designed promotional items such as amenity bags, VIP gifts or artistic wall-hangings.”

Since her business revolves around graphics to a large extent, she is able to match existing color themes or create images for print that compliment any taste or event. The possibilities are limitless.

“We print directly from the computer, what we see on the screen gets printed directly on the fabric. This is what makes what we do so interesting,” said April, adding that she get fabrics printed on demand.

“Fashion designers have also used us to print custom fabrics for their creations. This is very appealing considering that the end customer is getting fabrics that absolutely cannot be found elsewhere. The garments are completely unique. The results were stunning and completely unique on a level that had not been known before. We set the benchmark for creating personalized clothing,” she said.

It is extremely difficult in some cases to explain what we do because it’s fairly technical in nature. Many times we insist that our clients personally visit our studio and then give them a live demonstration of the process involved. This is something that took us completely by surprise.

“Our first ‘big break’ came from an upscale furniture store in Jeddah who hired us to print fabrics for sofas and pillows. It was a wonderful opportunity for us because we thought we would be able to expand dramatically. Unfortunately, the salesmen were told to tell the visitors to the store that the fabrics were made in Europe by an Italian designer,” she said.

“Now our website is complete and has photographs of our recent projects. In the past, we have used the ladies from the Bin Mahfouz Rabat to sew some of the items we produce. We believe very strongly in giving people within our community the chance to work and improve themselves; especially women who are under privileged,” she said.

“In our website, we began devoting pages focused on helping women entering the business sector.

We have been actively seeking cooperation with other companies engaged in producing leather goods such as handbags, wallets and shoes. We would like to use our fabrics in conjunction with leather to produce a line of accessories and would like to be contacted by anyone who is interested in working with us,” said April, adding, “Since we will soon be focusing heavier on promotional items and amenities, we are actively seeking persons with sewing factories to contact us as well. We only offer to do business with Middle-Eastern businesses, preferably those run by women.”