Ultima Displays delivers four exhibition stands and a podcast booth while earning award recognition at The Print Show 2026.
Ultima Displays built four stands at The Print Show, each between 25 and 80 square metres, plus the podcast booth where Eye on Display recorded all week. Gary Maycock designed the booth, and on day three he sat in it to talk to Jack about how the Corby manufacturer turns a brief into a stand.
“My role is to bring people’s visions to life, using all the products we have as a business to create something whose form and function support how they want to express themselves at events like this. You want to be remembered when you’re in the room,” says Gary.
Jack mentioned that he noticed visitors stopping all week to check out the construction of the booth, particularly the windows. “There’s nothing special about them, really. They’re plain clear acrylic fixed to the framework, but they feel very solid, are economical, good for the environment, and easy to reuse. Because the system is modular, we’d have this up in three or four hours. The frames lock together securely, and then we apply the graphics,” says Gary.
When it comes to what Ultima can build, the limits are practical. “We always say there are two things that hold us back. One is gravity, because we can’t do anything about that, and the other is the client’s budget. We work with them from the start of a concept, using tubular frame that we engineer and bend on site in Corby, or our profile systems for things like a box hung from an exhibition ceiling. Because we manufacture everything, we control the process and make sure it’s fit for purpose and meets every health and safety requirement.”
Stumbling into print
Gary didn’t plan a career in print. “I stumbled into print twenty years ago as a salesperson. I’d been made redundant and just needed a job, so I went into a local print company knowing nothing. You soak up the knowledge, and as a salesperson you always aim to do better for your customers. I went on to deal with most of the suppliers in the exhibition world before stepping back into manufacturing with Ultima.”
Ultima only sells to the trade, so Gary relies on the information its customers pass on from their own clients. “We can always help educate our customers by giving them the questions they need to ask, so we can do a better job for their customer.”
He’s quick to share the credit for the finished stands. “There’s a team of three CAD designers with me, and we look at the brief and come up with ideas together. Behind that there’s manufacturing and engineering, pre-build, our sewing department and the printers. We put the pretty stuff together, but they’re the people who make it happen.”
Four stands in one room
This year’s show is one of the biggest jobs Ultima has delivered. Building stands in a room full of competitors is the point. “We’re showing our work face on to our peers and competitors. We’ve been walking customers around the hall saying we did this, we produced that, and our favourite line at the moment is, I didn’t know you’d done that.”
The Print Lover stand features a custom hanging structure shaped like a big pink heart, visible from anywhere in the hall, along with custom light boxes and counters. The HP stand at the front of the hall has a hanging structure with new circular light boxes, made on a new bending machine.
“It’s all the standard technology we use to build stands. The message I always give is that we can make whatever goes behind the scenes, but it’s the graphics on the front that really do the job,” says Gary.
Ultima’s own stand had a Monopoly theme and used RFID so visitors could find more information about each product range. “We can’t pick up our showroom and bring it here, so we bring the next best version that travels light,” he adds.
Built to be used again
The night before the interview at the Print Industry Awards, Ultima was highly commended for Best Large-Scale Project for the Formula One car stand it built for last year’s show. That stand is now back in its showroom, and the podcast booth will be reused as well. “There’s single use, multiple use, and the value and sustainability question of how much you can reuse or repurpose. A lot of people are looking at that now,” says Gary.
Gary concludes, “We all offer very different things, but the key is building relationships with people and standing by your values as a business. That’s what makes you stand out.”