The paper, and what its weight means
The answer
Yes, for a print that hangs where daylight or a lamp falls on it. Uncoated matte paper has no gloss layer, so it does not throw back reflections, and the ink soaks into the sheet instead of sitting on top. The prints here are 200 gsm uncoated matte with pigment inks, printed once an order comes in. The trade-off is that colour looks a little quieter than the same file on a lit screen.
Is 200 gsm good for an art print?
It is a mid-weight paper, heavier than office paper and lighter than card. Gsm means grams per square metre: what a sheet one metre square would weigh. It tells you how substantial the paper is, which is not the same as how good it is. It matters most in a frame, where a heavier sheet stays flat and a thin one can ripple. At 200 gsm the sheets weigh:
| Size | Area | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 70×100 cm | 0.70 m² | 140 g |
| 50×70 cm | 0.35 m² | 70 g |
| 30×40 cm | 0.12 m² | 24 g |
What does uncoated mean, and why not gloss?
A coated paper carries a thin mineral layer that holds ink on the surface, which is what makes a photograph in a magazine look sharp and wet. An uncoated sheet has no such layer, so the ink is absorbed and the surface stays matte. The trade is real: a coated sheet gives a denser black and a harder edge, an uncoated one gives no reflection at all. On a wall lit from a window, a sheet that does not reflect is easier to look at.
How much of the sheet is printed?
All but a 5 mm border on each edge, which is unprinted so that a frame has something to hold.
| Size | Printed |
|---|---|
| 70×100 cm | 690 × 990 mm |
| 50×70 cm | 490 × 690 mm |
| 30×40 cm | 290 × 390 mm |
Which prints show the paper itself?
On a pale print, most of what you see on the wall is the paper itself. These are the paler half of the catalogue, ranked by the brightness of each print's sampled colour, palest first: Frond, Fade, Field, Blossom, Mound, Veil, Arch, Cream, Haze, Column, Coral, Glint, Pebble, Amber, Lichen, Grain, Pewter, Streak, Ochre, Dust, Speckle, Vein, Mottle, Spark, Scrub, Pool, Divide, Fleck, Weave, Bracken, Blush, Shoal, Drift, Ridge.
Why does the colour look softer than it does on screen?
A screen gives off light and paper only reflects it. An uncoated surface reflects less than a coated one, so a print looks a little quieter than its photograph. That is normal for this paper. To check a colour before you order, the sampled value of every print is on the colours page.