Inkjet & Digital Printing

Ink2Heart chooses Inkcups direct-to-object printing technology to kick-start drinkware personalisation

Wednesday 21. October 2026 - Ink2Heart has invested in an X5-T High Throw direct-to-object flatbed inkjet printer from Inkcups to offer on-demand personalisation of thermal drinkware and set the business up for future growth into other applications. Based in Saxony, Germany, Ink2Heart was established in 2025 with the idea of making product personalisation more economically viable for consumers and B2B customers. Drawing on his 20 years of print industry experience, founder and Managing Director Richard Müller wanted to use digital print to take a different approach to manufacturing.

This led Müller to explore direct-to-object printing. “With traditional printing processes, setup times, tooling, and other production steps can make very small runs economically challenging,” he explains. “With digital direct-to-object printing, we can change the content from one product to the next. A customer might order 100 bottles and every bottle can have a different name. For us, this is not 100 complicated individual production jobs. It is one digital production order containing 100 individual products.”
 
More than a machine 
The X5-T High Throw is Ink2Heart’s first equipment investment. It followed months of research into direct-to-object printing technology, evaluating print quality, flexibility, productivity and the types of objects that could be printed on. Most importantly, explains Müller: “We needed a solution that would fit our business model – small runs, individual pieces, different products and, at the same time, professional print quality. The X5-T High Throw was a very good fit.”
 
However, the decision wasn’t just about technology. “I didn’t simply want to buy a machine,” recalls Müller. “It was important that the manufacturer takes service and support seriously. I wanted a partner who would also support us with installation, commissioning and getting production up and running.”
 
Müller says that Inkcups’ support was instrumental in moving quickly to full productivity. “As a start-up, an investment of this kind involves a certain degree of risk. That is why it wasn’t just the technology that mattered, but also the trust we had in the partner behind it. The fact that we were able to move into actual production so quickly after installation confirmed that we had made the right decision.”
 
“That was a special moment for us,” he adds. “The machine had immediately started generating revenue for the company.”
 
Individualisation is “just regular production” 
Ink2Heart’s main focus is on producing personalised stainless-steel thermal drinkware such as bottles, tumblers, thermal mugs and shakers for private customers, companies, clubs, coaches and events. This ranges from applications featuring a simple name or logo, through to more complex designs incorporating multiple elements. Regardless of the design, the ability of the X5-T High Throw to flawlessly print high quality graphics with up to a 25% wrap on curved or uneven surfaces is fundamental to many of these products.

Even though it is early in the company’s story, production has already included many other products too, including a power drill on one occasion. “We didn’t want a machine that was perfect for just one particular application,” says Müller. “We wanted a machine that would allow us to develop our business model further.”

The investment has made it possible to turn Ink2Heart’s idea of personalised products into an industrial production process. The start-up can now easily personalise a single tumbler before immediately moving on to an order of several hundred products, each with a different design.

“What is particularly exciting are the small runs and one-off pieces,” adds Müller. “A product with an individual name is just as much a regular production order for us as a larger B2B order. That is one of the machine’s greatest advantages.”

“We produce what is actually ordered”
Flexible production is also central to Ink2Heart’s sustainability approach. Müller explains: “Sustainability starts with what and how much is produced. Our business model is based on personalising products to order. This means we don’t have to produce large quantities and keep them in stock. We produce what is actually ordered.”

“We don’t claim that digital printing is automatically sustainable,” continues Müller. “However, the technology enables a production model that can help reduce overproduction and unnecessary inventory.”

Designing an on-demand future
Direct-to-object printing is central to Ink2Heart’s goal of becoming a leading provider of on-demand personalised products in Germany, and Müller emphasises that this investment is just the start. “It was an important building block that made it possible to implement our entire business model,” he says. “The X5-T High Throw gives us the ability to put into practice what we want to achieve with Ink2Heart – combining the flexibility of individual personalisation with the quality and efficiency of professional industrial production.”