Print and sign firm Bear Designs has emerged victorious in the NSW leg of the ASGA Wrap Masters National Challenge by only three minutes, booking a place in September’s grand final.
The team led by managing director Brett East was the first to wrap an entire Ford Falcon XR-6 with printed film, withstanding severe challenges from Cowie Signs of Seven Hills and The Vinyl Frontier, North Gosford.
ASGA general manager and competition organiser Michael Punch says the contest was extremely close and only decided on penalties for mistakes.
“Cowie Signs had the completion cone up first with Bear Designs close behind. It then came down to the inspection by judges for any penalties,” he says.
“The final decision was indeed difficult as The Vinyl Frontier had the least faults of all but the time differentiation did not claw back enough for them to place first or second.
“Just as with the four previous state finals, the friendly rivalry as well as competence with this specialised work within our signage industry was there for all to see.”
[Related: Previous Wrap Masters coverage]
East says his team, consisting of himself, Mark Langford and Chris Dunning, thought they had lost until the official result came back.
“It was a bit of a shock because we were about five minutes behind before judging,” he says.
“I guess we gave a little more effort on the day. We had a strategy of how to attack the job and the other team had a completely different plan and there was still nothing in it.”
East says he competed against the New Zealand team two years ago and lost by 30 minutes, but hopes to do better this time if his team manages to win the national finals.
“I learned a lot from facing the Kiwis and we have tried to incorporate some of that. I think we have a better team this year and have as good a chance as anyone,” he says.
He says two of the current team have worked together for six years and with the third member for two years.
Bear Designs mostly prints signs, wraps and other wide format products on a Roland VS640. The business is split evenly between signwriting and printing.
It will join SignCityNT, Graphic Effects, SS Signs, and Signarama Joondalup in the grand final at the Visual Impact Expo on September 12-14. The national champions will take home a Roland DG SolJet PRO4 XR-640, plus bragging rights.
Wrap Masters major sponsor 3M will provide Controltac Graphic Film IJ180Cv3 matched with Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate 8518 for use by all competitors in the series.
Other major sponsor Australian Visual Solutions Cameron Sutherland says he is impressed with the quality of the competitors in this national contest
“We had competitors from Hobart, Perth, Darwin and Townsville all demonstrating exceptional wrap skills. The State qualifying rounds have now finished and I can’t wait to see the final five state finalists play off to see who is the 2014 Wrap Master and picks up a brand new XR 640 printer,” he says.
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