Giclee

I keep seeing all these promotions for say an 18X24″ gallery wrap canvas for less than $40. There is absolutely no way anyone can make a profit (or even break even) by selling at such low prices. So, what’s going on? Well, a couple of things are happening with the low ball offers: first, some companies are now producing in China. You upload a file to a company with offices in the US and they have the canvas produced in China, where people make a fraction of the wages here. Now, I am all for global trade but I find it disturbing that this is not told to the customers. In addtion, here is some food for thought to all people thinking about ordering from these outfits:

-Your digital files are going to China (Piracy potential anyone? Any legal options if this happens?)

-We asked for Chinese made samples just to see the quality of canvas and art papers. Well, let’s just say that they looked cheap, felt cheap and I would not ever pass them to my customers as high quality giclee materials.

-Same for inks; Inks are a major expense for any fine art commercial printer. We spend thousands of dollars a month in inks made to stringent standards. All the inks are OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and we would never settle for anything of a lesser quality.

Now I don’t want to put all the blame on cheap overseas manufacturers or domestic printers who make giclee prints with substandard materials. There is a market for KIA and a market for BMW. But do not make the mistake of believing that you can sell a fine art giclee print and get away with cheap, substandard printing. You don’t want customers calling in a few months or a year complaining that the expensive canvas print they bought is now fading, bubbling or simply falling apart. Chances are, it will. Look at printers who list the brand and type of canvas. There are many giclee canvas printing studios that keep things transparent as it always should be.