Komori’s 2022 calendar is treat of resplendent colours

What’s the theme of the calendar?
For the 2022 calendar, continuing with the same theme as last year, Glow of Life, a brilliant and beautiful floral motif was chosen.

What’s unique about this year’s calendar?
All pages were printed on an offset printing press using Smart Color technology – currently being developed by Komori.

What is Smart Color?
Smart Color is a technology for pseudo reproduction of high colour gamut special colours using seven colours – CMYK plus orange (O), green (G), and violet (V) – or six colours plus O and G.

How does it work?
The image data, set as a special colour, is assigned to the necessary colour plates of the seven process colours using dedicated decomposition technology, and the colours are simulated by multiplying the retinal dots.

The basic printing order is K→V→C→M→G→O→Y. This technology is based on the Komorimatic (water supply mechanism), which enables printing with as little water as possible on the printing plate to dot control, and the KHS-AI, which is the starting point for the quick start-up of Komori, and the register and colour management control system. It can reproduce 88% of spot colours (excluding gold, silver, and fluorescent) with seven colours and 80% with six colours.

Which presses were used?
Komori's H-UV-equipped eight-colour 40-inch offset printing press with in-line Coater. Two printing units + DU + four printing units + DU + two printing units + DU + UV coater + extended delivery.

Where was it printed?
Toppan Printing at the Asaka plant.

Tell us about the ink and substrate.
K-Supply H-UV ink and others on MTA+-FS (Takeo) paper.

What were the recommended press specifications
Six- to eight-colour mechanical offset press, full-APC or higher job changeover system, Print Density Control, automatic register (PDC-SX), Print Quality Assessment, colour control (PQA-S), K-Supply ink (KCMYOGV).

What made the calendar so special?
The flower image area of each page is printed in an extended gamut through seven-colour separation, to better replicate the colours from the digital camera shots. And, at the bottom of the calendar, each band colour is printed reproduction by seven colours instead of individual spot colours. The good thing is, it's not necessary to change inks in units, so this eliminates the spot colour changeover tasks, only needing is to change plates.

What was that extra mile walk you did for the job?
Drip-off OP varnish was used on the flower image with a decorative texture, unique to UV printing. It was also used for the background, rich black area, to protect the surface and to get a matt effect by drip-off OP varnish, to better stand out the total balance. These platemaking and printing techniques appeal to the five-senses of a human, especially sight and touch with achieving a three-dimensional effect.

The fastener portion of the calendar was jointly produced with Komori Group Seria Corporation. On the black matt paper, using silk-screen printing, a botanical pattern was thickly printed by UV gloss-black ink to create a sharp impression. Bright opaque-white ink was used on the Komori logo.

Who’s the artist behind the vibrant images?
The artist is Magda Indigo. She was born in Belgium to a family of artists and now lives in the UK. She is a professional photographer and artist, and her works have been used in advertising for global brands for over 25 years. Portraying the "beauty of the moment," her emotional and profound works continue to draw viewers. Her works have been exhibited around the world. She has also collaborated with global brands such as Apple, and her works have been used in advertisements for American Express, Samsung, and Microsoft.

Final thoughts…
We hope you will see and touch this calendar, as you also enjoy the coming year.