The calendar, fine art print and pricing
Kilim stands for quality, sustainability, originality and transparency. Today I would like to give you a little insight into our pricing. The most important question first.
What exactly is a fine art print?
A fine art print is a special printing process (fine art printing) on high-quality paper. The fine art print allows painters, photographers and all other artists to reproduce their created works true to the original, in the best possible quality, without losing the high resolution and color fidelity. It delivers sharp images, bright colors, attention to detail and high durability and light resistance of the prints.
The Glicée print
The fine art printing process used by museums and galleries is so-called glicée printing. It is a special screen-free inkjet printing process in which the long-lasting, pigment-based ink (so-called “archival inks”) is sprayed onto the corresponding medium. This process is therefore particularly suitable for demanding printing media such as handmade and watercolor papers, artist's canvas and silk. The giclée printer can use up to 12 individual colors. The result, or let’s say experience: a high level of nuance and color richness, contrast and depth. Using the spray-on method, this printing process opens up a true oasis for paper preferences.
The paper
Of course it's not the pressure alone. It's the interaction with the paper. Each paper allows the printing result to vary due to its unique surface (density, thickness, surface treatment, brightness, weight). One factor is how much paint can be absorbed by the surface in question. For example, structured, uncoated papers or those with a high cotton content can absorb more ink than coated ones, thus ensuring greater color intensity and depth.
My journey to find the right paper was an adventure. I stroked, smelled and printed my way through the paper universe for a year. Each paper changed colors and nuances, as if I was looking at a different print. You should like to paint over it, with a soft feel, leave no marks, be sustainable and let the colors and patterns shine. In addition, it had to be pure white and available in large format. Our apartment consisted of a sea of rolls, canvases, paper samples and proofs until I found the one that met all the requirements. It was a journey to the senses, an adventure, just like every print and every calendar is an adventure. A story. A feeling for life.
The Kilim calendar
It all started with my own desire for a calendar that loves the year. He understands that time is a valuable commodity. That a day, a week, a month is not just a stubborn, unimaginative sequence of processes and appointments. That's why in my idea it had to be big, extremely eye-catching and colorful (just like life itself) and make room, not just for any appointment, but for inspiration, visions, thoughts. For me, aesthetics was never just a beautiful surface, but rather a door through which I immerse myself in what I do and how I do it, whether I like it or not at all. So the aesthetics of my organizational tool were allowed to be central alongside the practical aspect. My idea was to give the calendar two functions: close to the calendar, and as the distance increases it becomes just a colorful, tapestry-style piece of jewelry.
When I had the first drafts printed on simple poster paper, I was downright shocked by the result: the colors were dull, the calendar above was dominant. The pattern and the calendar interfered with each other because they hardly stood out from each other due to the lack of depth. The paper didn't feel good, the pen smudged (on glossy paper) and was too strong on matte paper. After a veritable odyssey, I finally printed on fine art paper. And what can I say: There it was: calendar and art print in one, which makes every day an experience with its bright colors and gives you a new perspective. The pattern and calendar stood out from each other with its razor-sharp depth and mastered both functions equally. But at what price?
Pricing
When pricing the Kilim calendar, I faced a challenge: to fully realize the quality and vision I had for this product without compromising on the materials and manufacturing. If I were to allocate the actual costs for the high-quality materials (purchasing a fine art print starts at 50 euros per square meter), the specialized printing process, the design, packaging and shipping to the price, the final price would be far higher than my price decision. So I was faced with the question: who am I making these calendars for? Why do I do this? Is it worth it? Worth continuing on this journey and putting art and inspiration above profit? It should enrich and inspire every day life and decorate many living rooms and offices. So what was my mission now? Producing large runs to reduce costs, reducing quality or reducing costs as much as possible without compromising on quality at the risk that no one would buy a calendar starting at 89.00 euros. I decided to take the risk and with it: to let you feel the value of this product designed with quality and dedication, a small approximation of the immeasurable value of time or a day or a whole year.
A few months later my carpet (calendar) was already flying across the Atlantic. I got photos from Paris, Sidney, Portugal. Photos from living rooms, hallways, offices. Children's rooms and even a bathroom. I can't express how much this fills me and makes me believe that love and devotion to a person, a cause and also a product always wins.
There is good news for everyone who wants to spend more time with their Kilim calendar: the Evergreen edition will be available in May. So you can hang it up for years, as a perpetual calendar, birthday and tradition calendar, or at some point you can decide on a year in which you would like to take it away, give it as a gift or describe it.
Left: calendar on poster paper, right: fine art print
