9 August 2018

British family-run colour specialists VeriVide make substantial donation to University of Leeds

World-leading lighting and imaging specialists VeriVide have made a ground-breaking donation of equipment to the University of Leeds.

The university’s School of Design will see their students benefit from the five-figure donation of four pieces of cutting-edge equipment.

Students now have two DigiEye colour imaging systems and two colour assessment lighting cabinets at their disposal, thanks to VeriVide.

The family-run Leicestershire business are forging even closer links with the university, having sponsored the School of Design’s imaging laboratory and acted as a headline sponsor of the 91st Textile Institute World Conference, which was hosted by the University of Leeds towards the end of July.

VeriVide, who were formed in 1964, offer a range of transformative, world-beating colour measurement products all made in Britain.

Company director Paul Dakin said: “It’s a sizeable donation from us, and the university are delighted. We want to work more closely with them and collaborate on projects together as we share the same future goals.

“The students will benefit from latest technology of imaging and colour management and image capture. We’re giving them the latest software, and it’s an ongoing project as well.

“This gift is part of our investment in the future of British design, so we will service the hardware and supply the software going forward. If a new version comes out, we will go and install it.

“We’ve got quite a history with Leeds – and not just in textiles. The university has got a very good colour chemistry programme, and the School of Design encompasses all sorts of different industries that we can work within, in partnership with them.

“We’ve been members of the Textile Institute for a while and working with the University of Leeds for some time, too, so it was a happy coincidence that the conference should be held there this year.

“We were delighted to have a presence at the conference. We had an exhibition area, and people looking around the university had the opportunity to be introduced to our laboratory.”

Professor Chris Carr, head of the School of Design at the University of Leeds, said: “The recent opening of the Design Centre for Colour within the School of Design at the University of Leeds has created one of the leading colour characterisation facilities in the world.

“A key industrial partner is VeriVide, which has invested in the Centre with the provision of state-of-the-art equipment and technology.

“With this generous support, the Centre is tackling multi-disciplinary research problems that encompass textiles, cosmetics, food, consumer behaviour and colour communication in its widest sense.”