Picture of bird

What is a Giclee Print?

Giclée is actually an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. The word "giclée" is derived from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". It was coined in 1991 by Jack Duganne, a printmaker working in the field, to represent any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art.

The Fine Arts Trade Guild recognise giclée printing as a medium of the very highest quality, necessary for the reproduction of fine art prints and for accurately displaying the artist's true purpose. It is the standard choice for museums and art galleries for reproducing historic artworks

Our giclée prints are far superior to the low-priced mass-produced lithographic prints typically seen on the high street and many online poster shops:

Printree Giclée Prints	Lithographic Prints
Flexibility to print the desired quantity when required - 'print-on-demand'	Ideal for printing large quantities of low quality colour prints with longer time lead times
Printed at resolutions of 1440 and 2880 dots per inch	Typically printed at lower 300 dots per inch.
Use eight different colour lightfast, pigmented inks to produce greater colour range, clarity and vibrancy	Uses four colours
Numerous fine print-heads spray ink on the page mixing colours to produce a wider colour gamut and a virtually continuous tone	Uses tiny dots of different sizes and colours to fool the eye into seeing various hues and shades.
Printed direct from high resolution digital images	Printed from negatives and printing plates which do not retain the level of detail required for fine art
Able to use thicker and stronger print media	Invariably the substrates are thinner
Low set up costs for each print..	High set up costs for each print run
Small economies of scale as quantities increase.	Decreasing costs for each extra print delivers large economies of scale and lower prices.