The difference between Digital & Fine Art prints

Lightfast, by definition, means it will not fade because of exposure to light. With the use of lightfast pigment inks and premium archival grade papers, when displayed under the correct lighting conditions prints will last 85-100 years without noticeable fading. Unfortunately, the fact is that most things that contain colour will fade over time if they are exposed to any UV light. Please understand that all testing (and colour matching) is done under a controlled environment.
While we stick by our product and ensure all care is taken to provide the best quality we can, once it enters the client’s environment we no longer have control. We recommend that you care for your giclée reproductions as you would any original artwork - keep them away from direct sunlight or water and don’t hit them with any chemicals or cleaning agents.

Fine art giclee reproductions can last up to 200 years if cared for correctly. Black is the most lightfast tone - this means black and white prints are fade-resistant for over 100 years. Full colour reproductions will have the longest life stored in an album, protected from light, dust, fingerprints and chemicals. Displayed behind glass, prints can last over 80 years. Longer if UV glass is used to further protect prints from light exposure. Displayed without glass (unframed), prints can last over 50 years but are at further risk of discolouration from humidity, and exposure to dust, air particles and chemicals.
Fine art giclee reproductions will, in most cases, last a lifetime if framed correctly, positioned away from direct exposure to sunlight and treated as prized piece of art comparable to an original piece.

Our giclée prints are fine art reproductions so they need to be guaranteed to look incredible years after your clients have received them! With the use of lightfast pigment inks and premium archival grade papers, when displayed under the correct lighting conditions prints should last 85-100 years without noticeable fading. Unfortunately, the fact is that most things that contain colour will fade over time if they are exposed to any UV light. Please understand that all testing (and colour matching) is done under a controlled environment.
While we stick by our product and provide all care to provide the best quality we can, once it enters the clients environment we no longer have control. We recommend that you care for your giclée reproductions as you would your own originals - keep them away from direct sunlight or water and don’t hit them with any chemicals or cleaning agents.

We have spent years sourcing, experimenting and test printing to find the perfect stocks and this includes our specially selected textured card stock to give a similar (but not the same) feel as our fine art reproductions. Physically, our digital prints are printed on a 220gsm lightly-textured card, while our fine art reproductions are printed on 240gsm archival-grade cotton rag. While our giclee stock is physically heavier, it doesn’t have the same rigidity as our digital card stock and feels softer due to the cotton substrate.
Our fine art prints utilise pigment ink, which soaks into our cotton rag stock creating rich, but completely matte colour of exceptional brilliance. Our digital prints, however, utilise toner which is transferred to the paper using heat creating a light sheen to the print.

Definitely, but this isn’t a bad thing! Both styles of printing have their own purposes and both serve them well. Our digital prints and fine art reproductions are printed using different machines and different styles of printing, so they’re never going to be “the same" but we take great pride in them both (even when put side by side).

Our fine art reproductions are expertly colour-matched to the artist’s original artwork to replicate the original piece as closely as possible. When placed next to the original piece, sometimes even the artist has a hard time telling which piece is the original! The quality of the materials used and the longevity is what truly differentiates digital and giclée prints. At a purely visual level, however, the stand-out difference is the colour brilliance - our fine art printer is capabable of achieving a much larger, richer and deeper colour-gamut than our digital printer due to utilising additional pigment inks outside of the standard CMYK colour space.

Standard size prints, available in A5, A4 and A3, will be packed inside a plastic sleeve within a 700gsm heavy-duty rigid mailer for maximum protection. Custom size, A2 and A1 posters will be carefully rolled and shipped within a mailing tube for protected travel worldwide.