Matte etch-effect vinyl that obscures the view through glass while the light still comes through. Plotted and printed at Ravenhall into bands, patterns, cut logos and full-pane coverage, with fitting available.
Frosted window film is a matte translucent vinyl applied to glass to imitate acid-etched or sandblasted glazing. Light passes through and diffuses. Shapes and shadows show; faces, screens and paperwork do not. Because it is a film rather than a treatment of the glass, it can be cut into bands and logos, fitted in an occupied office, and removed later without touching the pane.
Made by Melbourne Trade Signs, a large-format print and signage company on Unit 6/43 Orbis Drive, Ravenhall VIC 3023, in Melbourne’s west. Printed in-house and installed Australia-wide. Phone 0415 743 691.
True frosted glass is permanent, costly and a nuisance to change when the tenancy does. Film gets close enough that most people in the room cannot tell. Be clear on the limits, though. It is not blackout, so a silhouette against the glass stays a silhouette. It is not one-way. And it sits poorly on textured or patterned glass, where the adhesive has nothing flat to grip.
Everything is cut and printed here on Orbis Drive in Ravenhall. Plain etch film is plotted to shape, and anything with a pattern, gradient or colour gets printed on frost media in-house. One meeting room or a whole floor of partitions, both fine, with no minimum either way. Our crews fit around Melbourne and interstate, or we supply it cut, weeded and taped for your fitter.
Not all frost is the same. Some films are a plain even matte, some carry a printed pattern, some fade from solid to clear across the pane. The look you want narrows the material quickly.
| Film | Appearance | Privacy level | Where it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard etch frost | Even matte white | Obscures detail, shows shadow | Partitions, meeting rooms, doors |
| Printed frost | Matte with pattern or colour | Depends on pattern density | Branded glass, wayfinding |
| Dusted crystal | Slight sparkle in the matte | Similar to standard etch | Reception and feature glass |
| Gradient frost | Solid at the base, fading to clear | Full low down, none up top | Full-height glass with a view |
| Coloured translucent | Tinted but still light-passing | Good, and adds brand colour | Fitout feature panes |
| Static cling frost | Matte, no adhesive at all | Same look, less durable | Short leases, temporary privacy |
Measure the glass you can see, not the frame, and note whether the pane sits in a channel or is held by clips. On panes wider than the roll, joins are planned to land on a natural line.
Plain frost is the starting point. Most fitouts end up past it: a band with the company name knocked out, a repeating pattern, or a fade that hides desks and leaves the ceiling line open.
The workhorse. An even matte translucent vinyl over the full pane or a section of it. Nothing printed, nothing to line up, and it looks identical across every pane on a floor. It is also the quickest way to make a lot of glass private.
We print onto frost media, so the glass can carry a pattern, a tone, a texture or brand colours instead of a plain white matte. Repeats are set up to carry across adjoining panes, so a run of partitions reads as one piece rather than six.
Your logo or a room name cut clear through the frost so the glass shows through the shape, or the reverse: a frosted logo on otherwise clear glass. Both are plotted from vector artwork, so edges stay sharp and there is no printed background to align.
Large panes of clear glass need to be visible so people do not walk into them, usually via a band, dots or a pattern at a set height. Requirements vary with the building, so confirm the detail with your builder or building surveyor and we will cut to that specification.
Printed so the frost is solid at the bottom of the pane and fades out towards the top. Desks and seated staff are covered, the upper glass stays clear, and the room keeps its borrowed light. A common request for meeting rooms in the middle of an open floor.
Most frost is made for the inside face. Where the only access is from the street we use a film rated to sit outdoors. For short tenancies there is also a non-adhesive cling version that holds by surface tension and lifts off with nothing left behind.
Glass-walled meeting rooms look sharp and offer no privacy at all. A band at seated height or a lower-half frost fixes that in an afternoon, usually after hours so nobody moves desks. Fitout builders order it by the floor, with room names or the tenant logo cut into the band, and we work off the joinery drawings rather than measuring twice.
Waiting rooms, treatment rooms and reception windows need people to be unidentifiable from the corridor while the room stays lit. Frost does that without the closed-in feel of a solid partition, and it keeps the borrowed daylight that makes a small consulting room bearable. Practices often add a clear vision slot at door height so staff can see whether a room is in use.
Cafes and bars use frost to hide the working end of the room, screen a service area or give booth seating separation from the footpath. Retail uses it on change room glass, office windows and back-of-house doors. Because it is film rather than treated glass, seasonal promotional graphics can go over the clear sections and come off again later without disturbing the frosted parts.
Agents and building managers use frost to tidy empty tenancies, screen vacant floors and cover glazing in common areas. When a lease ends the film comes off and the glass returns to base build condition, with nothing to make good and no glazier involved. That removability is usually the reason film gets specified over etched or sandblasted glass in the first place.
Plain frost needs nothing more than pane sizes. Anything cut, printed or patterned needs artwork, and vector files make life easier for everyone at the cutting stage.
A logo file and a photo of the glass is a fine starting point. We draw up the banding, position the logos and send a layout back for approval before anything is cut.
Plain etch film is one of the faster jobs on our floor, since plotting is quick and nothing waits on ink drying. Printed and patterned frost takes longer, because it goes through the printer and laminator first. Give us the fitout date and we will be honest about whether it fits. Pickup from Ravenhall during business hours, delivery metro and regional Victoria, freight interstate.
Not in any detail, but the balance shifts once it is dark outside and lit inside. A lit room behind frosted glass shows more movement and stronger silhouettes to someone on the street than it does in daylight.
Faces, screens and documents stay unreadable either way. If the window faces a footpath and the room is used after hours, a denser frost or a blockout film on the lower section is safer.
Inside, in almost every case. Standard etch film is built for interior application, which keeps it out of the weather, away from cleaning gear and much harder to peel off from the street.
Outside application only makes sense where there is no interior access, and it needs a film rated for exterior use. Say so before we cut, because logos and printed patterns have to be mirrored for exterior work.
No, they solve different problems. Frosted film blocks the view both ways while letting daylight through. One way vision is perforated, carries a printed graphic on the street face and lets people inside see out through the holes.
Choose frost for privacy or a decorative finish. Choose perforated film when the window has to carry a message and staff still need to watch the footpath. Plenty of shopfronts use both.
No. It peels away and leaves adhesive residue at worst, which comes off with a plastic scraper and a solvent-based glass cleaner. The glass itself is not altered, which is the main reason tenants use film instead of the real thing.
Film baked on a hot north-facing window for years comes off in smaller pieces and takes longer. Film applied over old failing film is the one situation that causes real grief.
Large areas of clear glazing generally have to be marked so people can see them, and that is a building code matter rather than a design preference. Which panes, what height and how visible all depend on the glazing and the building.
We are signwriters, not building surveyors, so confirm the requirement with your builder or building surveyor and give us the specification. Most clients use that band to carry their logo at the same time.
Yes, either way around. We can cut the logo clear through a frosted pane so the shape reads as plain glass, or cut the logo out of frost and apply it to clear glass. Both are plotted from vector artwork.
Very fine detail is the limit. Hairline strokes get fragile to weed and can lift later, so we will tell you the smallest size it cuts cleanly at, or suggest printing it on frost media instead.
Cut lettering for glass doors, partitions and reception walls. Usually ordered with frosted banding so room names and door details go on in the same visit.
See the detail →Perforated film that carries a printed graphic on the street side while staff see out. The choice when a window has to sell something, not only screen a room.
See the detail →Printed and cut decals for shop glass, including reverse-print work read from outside. Good for promotions and opening hours layered around a permanent frosted band.
See the detail →Frosting an office fitout? The whole interior package lives on our office and reception signage page. Or browse the A–Z of everything we print.
Send pane sizes or a photo of the partitions. We will draw up the banding, quote it, and book the fit around your access hours.