Framing · Canberra
Conservation Picture Framing in Canberra
A frame does two jobs. It presents the work, and it protects it for the next few decades. Most framing does the first well and the second by accident. Our Fyshwick workshop does conservation framing - acid-free throughout, reversible, and built so the thing inside can be taken out in thirty years no worse than it went in.
What conservation framing means in practice
The damage a frame does is slow and invisible until it is permanent. Ordinary mountboard is wood pulp, and as it ages it turns acidic and burns a brown line into whatever it touches - the bevel window print you have seen on any framed certificate from the 1980s. Dry mounting bonds a work to a board forever. Standard glass passes the ultraviolet that bleaches pigment and paper alike.
Conservation framing is the set of choices that avoid all of that: acid-free and lignin-free matboards, cut to the work rather than to a stock opening; hinging with reversible materials so an original is held rather than glued; a gap between the work and the glazing so nothing is pressed against a cold surface where condensation forms; and glazing chosen for what it has to protect.
None of it is visible in the finished frame. That is rather the point - you are paying for what does not happen to the work over the following decades.
Print, mount and frame as one job
The framing bench sits beside the print room, which changes what is possible for Canberra clients. A photograph can be scanned, restored if it needs it, printed on archival paper and framed without the work being packed, couriered and unpacked between each step. Fewer handovers is fewer opportunities for something to go wrong, and one quote instead of three.
It also means the framing decisions can be made while the print is still adjustable. Mat colour can be chosen against the actual print rather than a screen preview. A print can be sized to a frame you already own, or a mat window cut to suit an image that does not fit standard proportions.
Custom framing generally runs 2-3 weeks depending on moulding availability and glazing. If the piece is for a gift or an exhibition, give us the date when you enquire rather than after the quote - moulding lead time is the part we cannot compress.
If you just want a framed print, there is a faster option
This page is about framing something you already own - an original, a photograph, a certificate, a piece of textile or memorabilia. If instead you want to buy a print and have it framed, our sister service Framed in CBR prints in Canberra and has it framed by an independent framer in your own suburb, usually for less and with a shorter wait.
Canberra's Canson & Hahnemühle Certified Fine Art Print Studio
Lucent Imaging is Canberra's only Canson and Hahnemühle certified fine art print studio. Our giclée print process is independently reviewed and validated to ensure consistent colour accuracy and archival quality on every print. (Canson: AU-12609 | Hahnemühle: 260582)
Picture framing in Canberra - common questions
Frame something properly
Book a drop-off at the Fyshwick workshop and bring the piece with you - most framing decisions are quicker to make with the work on the bench.
A carbon neutral studio
We believe in building a sustainable, future-focused business that invests in our team, our clients, our community and our environment. Our fine art print and archival digitisation studio is carbon neutral.
Our Sustainability Story