The term giclee is a neologism which was created by a french printmaker who wanted to differentiate regular mechanical reproductions made on generic papers against the use of fine art materials and archival pigmented inks.

Althoguh there has been much talk about the value of a giclee print, there are opinions and there are facts. Opinions can both be positive and negative; some sites and authors point at the fact a giclee is nothing but a reproduction with no long lasting or instrinsic values. This is an opinion because any print, if limited in mumbers, signed aby a famous artist, can have value depending on many collectors are chasing the stock.

A fact is that there is to this day no other way to create a very rich print in tonality and on REAL art papers or canvas than a giclee. Yes, there are canvas transfers but they are far from being rich or archival.

Also, giclee is oftne confused with just another form of reproduction. This is completely false; original digital art (art created on a computer) if printed, can be a unique piece. Giclee is a way to do so. Photography is another venue for giclee printing and I believe photographers greatly underestimate the value of giclee prints especially with fine art, wedding and portrait photography. The are giclee printing companies that will not charge any set up fees for digital files supplied to them. Others will charge hundreds just to print a file.