Episode 266 - Digital Print’s Second Coming in Decorative Surfaces – with Marc Graindourze, Agfa
Show Notes:
In this episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, we sit down with Marc Graindourze, Senior Business Manager for Industrial Inks at Agfa, to explore the opportunities and challenges of digital print in the decorative surfaces market.
Marc has spent more than a decade focused on decorative applications and brings deep insight into where digital printing is gaining traction—covering flooring, furniture, edge banding, wall panels, and beyond. He explains how inkjet is moving from niche to mainstream as producers seek greater design freedom, shorter lead times, and more sustainable workflows.
A central theme is the shift from analogue gravure to single-pass digital, enabling faster time-to-market and reduced waste. Marc highlights how today’s inkjet systems offer lower consumption, improved colour management, and batch-to-batch consistency, making them economically viable for manufacturers. He also emphasises the crucial role of ink chemistry, noting that decorative printing demands a different colour palette, tuned for subtle wood tones, pastel shades, and long-term indoor stability.
We also discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping design workflows, creating new levels of variety and randomisation that are impossible with traditional printing methods. AI-generated designs, coupled with inkjet’s flexibility, are helping brands deliver richer choice to consumers while managing production risk more effectively.
Sustainability is never far from the conversation. From UV LED curing and reduced waste, to water-based inks for décor papers, Marc outlines how digital print is aligning with industry standards and brand-owner requirements for greener production.
This is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of decorative surfaces—where innovation, creativity, and economics converge to position inkjet as a truly competitive alternative.
FuturePrint Events:
FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany