Glass Printing in Dubai

Sun Studio prints artwork directly onto flat glass from our studio in Al Quoz. The ink sits on the glass itself and is cured as it is laid down, so there is no vinyl to lift at the corners, no film edge along a partition leaf and no seam across a wide panel.

It is specified most often on interior work: office partitions and meeting rooms, glass doors, splashbacks, reception and feature panels, and shopfront glass inside malls and stores across the UAE.

What we can print

Glass arrives here in a handful of recognisable forms, and each one behaves differently under a printhead:

• Clear float glass — where white ink decides whether artwork reads as colour or as a tint.
• Low-iron glass — the extra-clear stock specified when a design must not pick up the green cast of ordinary float.
• Frosted and acid-etched glass — an already-diffused surface that gives colour a soft ground to sit on.
• Tinted and back-painted glass — where the glass colour is part of the design and white underneath controls how much of it shows.
• Office partitions and meeting-room leaves — full-height panels, usually toughened, printed before installation.
• Glass doors and shopfront elements — cut, drilled and processed first, printed afterwards.
• Splashbacks and decorative panels — vertical surfaces that get cleaned often, which changes what we recommend.

Printing capabilities

Which of these apply depends on the glass in front of us, and we will say so once we have seen it:

• Direct UV printing — ink cured on the glass with nothing laminated over the top.
• White ink — full backing, or selective white behind only the elements that must stay opaque while the rest of the panel stays clear.
• First or second surface — printed on the face you touch, or on the back so the image is seen through the glass.
• Multilayer builds — white and colour layered in a defined order, which is what makes a design work from both sides.
• Large-format panels — partition and door-scale work printed in one pass rather than tiled.
• Surface preparation — cleaning, and an adhesion promoter suited to glass where the substrate calls for it.
• Sample panels — a printed offcut before a panel schedule is committed.

First surface or second surface printing

On glass the same artwork can be printed on the face you touch or on the back, seen through the thickness of the glass. Deciding early matters, because it changes the file you send us.

First surface

The ink is on the visible face. Artwork is supplied the right way round, and the print is what a hand and a cloth meet. It is the straightforward option for panels fixed against a wall, and for anything where the back of the glass will never be seen.

Second surface (reverse)

The ink is on the back, so the glass itself sits between the viewer and the print. That gives depth and gloss and puts the print out of reach of cleaning on the visible side.

Two things change: the artwork must be mirrored, and the layer order reverses — white goes down over the colour instead of under it. It suits partitions seen from one side and panels bonded to a substrate. Tell us how the glass is installed and which face is accessible, and we will tell you which way round it should run.

Who this is for

Most glass work here arrives through one of these routes:

• Architects and interior designers — specifying printed glass as part of a scheme rather than as an applied graphic.
• Fit-out contractors — with a partition package that needs decorating before installation.
• Glass and glazing companies — who supply, cut, process and install but do not print. We are the step in between, not a competitor.
• Signage companies — needing the graphic in the glass rather than on it.
• Hotels, restaurants and retail — branded and decorative glass inside the space.
• Offices — meeting-room privacy handled as design instead of a band of frosting film.

What to send before we can quote

Two panels that sound identical can behave differently, so we price from specifics rather than from a description:

• Panel dimensions — width and height of each panel.
• Glass thickness, and whether it is toughened, laminated or annealed.
• Glass type and any coating — clear, low-iron, tinted, mirrored, Low-E, acid-etched — and which face carries the coating.
• Quantity, and whether the panels are identical or all different.
• A photograph of the actual glass, especially if it is already cut.
• Artwork, with a note on which elements must stay opaque.
• Application and location — partition, door, splashback, feature panel — and indoor or outdoor.
• Programme dates — when the glass reaches us and when it must be back on site.

How it works

Printed glass we have produced

All Sun Studio work, printed direct onto the glass in Al Quoz.

Technical considerations

Glass is smooth and non-porous, so adhesion depends strongly on the exact surface finish, contamination, coatings, cleaning, pretreatment and the ink system — decided by the specific panel, not by glass as a category. Clean glass wets readily; a contaminated or coated face is the harder case.

What actually governs the outcome:

• Coatings — Low-E, mirrored, anti-reflective and solar-control products carry a functional coating on one face. Printing onto the coated face is a different problem from printing onto the uncoated one, and on some products it is not appropriate at all.
• Contamination — handling oils, site dust and residue from spacers all sit between ink and glass. Panels are cleaned before printing.
• Pre-treatment — an adhesion promoter formulated for glass is used where the substrate needs it. Not every panel does, and we would rather establish that on a sample than apply it as policy.
• Transparency — with no white base, colour on clear glass reads as a tint and the background shows through. White is a design decision taken per panel.
• Processing order — cutting, drilling, edge work, toughening and lamination all happen before printing. UV ink is not designed to pass through a tempering furnace.
• Exterior and structural glazing — that is the territory of fired ceramic frit printing, done by the glass processor during tempering. Direct UV print is a surface layer for interior and protected applications.
• Cleaning regime — a splashback wiped daily with kitchen chemicals is a harder ask than a partition dusted weekly. Tell us which it is.

Common questions

Have a glass panel to print?

Send us the dimensions, the thickness, the glass type and the artwork, and tell us where the panel is going. We will come back on what is possible, whether it should be tested first, and how it fits your programme.

Glass Printing projects

Real Sun Studio work involving this service. See the full portfolio.

Technology used

Direct Color Systems UV84 — the flatbed that prints glass panels, with white ink and pre-treatment where the glass calls for it. See the full printer fleet.