What is a Giclée or Giclee Print.

Legend has it the the term Giclée came from Nash Editions, who were one of the earliest "digital" printers in the USA. The word, translated from the French means to spray/squirt/spritz, a French friend of mine suggests it means squirt in an amorous way!

The phrase was specifically coined for IRIS printers and was used to differentiate IRIS fine art prints from IRIS proof prints and as a more interesting term than digital print. In the same way serigraph differentiates an art print from a silk screen print.

The phrase Giclée print was quickly adopted by IRIS Graphics for their fine art printers (IRIS 3047G) and by most companies using IRIS to produce fine art. In the mid 90's a company called Displaymaker decided to market a wide format printer called the Giclée Master, IRIS Graphics sued them but as the term was not coined by them and they had not registered it they lost the case.

Now the term Giclée simply means inkjet print. ANY inkjet print (so if you have an inkjet printer on your desk, you can make a giclée print). It is mostly used by artists who print on canvas.

The word Giclée does not mean that the print is good or archival or anything! We prefer to use the term IRIS print for prints made on the IRIS or Pigment Print for prints made on the Epson printers. Some of our clients prefer to specify the printer and ink used, for example Epson 9800 print using K3 inks on cotton rag paper.

IRIS printers cost over $100,000 and despite the fact the technology is more than 20 years old and they have not been manufactured for years they are still one of the finest digital printers made.