arteetGiclée vs offset: what you are actually buying
Two prints can look identical on a screen and behave completely differently on a wall in five years. The difference is the process, not the picture.
Offset: cheap, consistent, finite
Offset printing uses metal plates and four inks. It is how posters, book covers and museum shop reproductions are made. The colour is consistent across thousands of copies, the cost per unit is low, and the detail is limited by the screen used for the plate — usually 175–300 lines per inch. Offset prints are not archivally rated; the paper is often acidic and the inks are not pigment-based.
Giclée: slower, wider gamut, archival
Giclée (from the French for "spray") is an inkjet process using pigment inks on coated fine-art paper. It resolves far more detail, holds a wider colour gamut, and — on 100% cotton rag with pigment inks — is rated for 100+ years under glass. It is also slower: one print at a time, often proofed before the run.
How to tell them apart
| Offset | Giclée | |
|---|---|---|
| Detail | Halftone dots visible under a loupe | Continuous tone, no visible dot |
| Paper | Coated or uncoated wood pulp | Cotton rag or alpha-cellulose, 250–310gsm |
| Fade resistance | Years, not decades | 100+ years framed |
| Cost for one | Low at volume, high for one | Higher per unit, no minimum |
| Best for | Posters, temporary decor | Work you intend to keep |
What we print, and why
Every arteet edition is giclée on 310gsm cotton rag with pigment inks. We proof each file on the actual paper before the first sale, because a screen cannot show you how warm a paper is. If a work only makes sense as a cheap poster, we do not list it.
See also: how to keep a print from fading.
