1982 – The Invention

Our story began over 30 years ago when Roland Hill, a keen amateur squash player, was driven to make the sport more accessible to a larger viewing audience. Squash is a challenging sport for spectators because the court is traditionally enclosed by opaque walls. Roland’s eureka moment was a new one-way vision technology, which enabled colors and graphics to be visible from one side of the glass, while retaining excellent and unobstructed see-through from the other side. This led to the construction of the Safe Screen squash court in 1982, the world’s first squash court with one-way vision walls on every side. Spectators could now watch the game from all the sides of the court while the players’ view is blocked by the (blue) one-way vision walls.

1984/85 – Contra Vision Ltd and First Patent

It soon became clear that there were many other opportunities and applications for the invention including advertising, branding, signs, decorative architectural effects, solar control and one-way vision privacy. Patents for Roland Hill’s invention were granted from 1984 in many countries around the world. In 1985 the inventor turned entrepreneur founded Contra Vision Ltd to promote and sell products around the world and to license multi-nationals including 3M and Avery Dennison to use our invention.

1991 – World’s first total bus wrap

The world’s first total bus wrap was produced by Contra Vision in New Zealand for the Pan Pacific Hotel. The bus was converted into a mobile billboard which still allowed passengers inside to see out. The process involved shipping Contra Vision part-processed material from Europe to be spray-painted in New Zealand.

1993 – World’s first digitally printed bus wrap

Crystal Pepsi’s bus wrap was printed by Super Graphics in California. The value and interest from advertisers and planners for this application continues today worldwide, with eye-catching and innovative designs that can transform each bus into a great opportunity for branding and communication campaigns.

1995 – New licensees

3M and Avery Dennison become licensees of Contra Vision to make and sell Perforated Window Film. They were followed by all our major competitors of today.

2003 – European Commission Headquarters

21,000m2 of Contra Vision XR™ interlayer (white on black dots) used on Berlaymont European Commission HQ louvre glass panels.

2010-14: New product releases

First to market with our patented Contra Vision Grayliner invention, a 20% (80/20) perforated window film, Clear perf for inside applied and Translucent perf for 24/7 backlit graphics.

2014-20 – Queen’s Awards

Contra Vision received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade in 2014. In the following year, the company won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovations. Most recently in 2020, Contra Vision received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovations again. These rewards highlight Contra Vision’s efforts to continue developing new products that  better satisfy its customers’ needs.

2018 – Contra Vision Performance HD

First to market with Contra Vision Performance HD, a perforated window film with 1mm diameter holes which are the smallest available, which gained a second Queen’s award for Innovation in 2020.