How To Select A Portfolio Of Art Prints For House-staging, An Office, Hotel Or Restaurant
Posted on July 3, 2010
Filed Under arts and entertainment |
When the architecture, layout or age of a building calls for period-appropriate art, it can be an interior-design challenge to assemble an appropriate portfolio for the building. This is true whether the art prints are for house-staging, an office, hotel or for a restaurant. It is important that the chosen art prints provide continuity for the space. Creating such a portfolio from a single supplier is often difficult when the space requires more antique or classic art rather than modern art. It is usually not possible to entirely fill a space with original pieces, so the use of high quality print reproductions is often the best solution.
It will often blow the budget to use more than one or two original pieces of period-appropriate art in the space (unless the client happens to have an existing large collection). With today’s high quality fine art reproduction techniques this is not necessary to achieve an accurate period effect. A combination of custom-printed high-quality canvas or fine art paper print reproductions hung in museum-quality frames can be a powerful tool to recreate the feel of a specific period or art genre.
Whilst renting fine art prints is always a possibility, unless the display will be temporary (such as staging a house) it is usually most practical (and cost-effective) to purchase the art prints for permanent installations. When selecting the art for a specific project however, it is advisable to develop relationships with one or more custom art printing companies to help you build your preferred portfolios.
Larger suppliers of antique prints will usually have a very clear idea of which pieces do and do not work well with each other and will also have frame and size suggestions, which can be invaluable. You can ask the print company to provide suggestions for a specific project and provide as much detail about the space as possible or simply ask for a generic portfolio of prints to suit a particular size space (such as a five thousand square foot house) of a particularly architectural style.
You can always reject some of the initial print or frame suggestions and include additional prints as necessary, but it is invaluable to have this initial portfolio to work from. It is also likely to be prints that the print company is
very comfortable printing in the sizes and aspect ratios they propose, so you are less likely to have an issue with
quality or color.
If you take this approach, you will quickly find out that not all fine art print companies are the same. Many are run using call center personnel who do not actually produce your prints. The production is outsourced to a factory, so any detailed questions or customized solutions are not really feasible. If you talk to a different person every time you call the company then you may have reached one of these “factory” type companies. The quality may be good most of the time but any custom projects or unique requests are likely to be met with a confused reaction.
It is therefore worthwhile seeking out the companies where you can get to know your representative over time and they can learn your favoured art genres, color requirements and other details that you insist upon. It can be invaluable to know that if you finalize your portfolio on Friday afternoon and need the printed overnighted to the client site by Wednesday morning that you can call your representative and she will ensure that the prints will arrive on schedule and will be in accordance with your usual high standards.
Finally, you should also always ask about a company’s wholesale rates. These can often result in a discount of between thirty and fifty percent from the quoted retail rates. Some companies will provide you with a code that you can enter into their website which automatically applies this discount. This can be helpful for keeping track of your selection and pricing it in real-time.
My staff or I would be happy to answer any other questions you have. Please feel free to email us at emily@encore-editions.com or call our New Hope PA gallery on 215 933 5047. We look forward to hearing from you. You can also visit our website to review our portfolio of 15th Century to Early 19th Century print reproductions.
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