A1 measures 59.4 × 84.1 cm. It belongs to the international A series, sits between A2 (42 × 59.4 cm) and A0 (84.1 × 118.9 cm), and carries the ratio every A size shares: 1:1.414. We do not sell A1, and we do not sell frames for it. The nearest format we have is 70×100, and it is not a substitute. It is larger, and the proportions are not the same.
A1 next to 70×100
The two are often treated as one poster with two names. The numbers say otherwise.
| A1 | 70×100 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Width | 59.4 cm | 70 cm | +10.6 cm |
| Height | 84.1 cm | 100 cm | +15.9 cm |
| Ratio | 1:1.414 | 1:1.43 | slightly narrower |
| Area | 0.50 m² | 0.70 m² | about 40% more |
Forty per cent more paper is not a rounding error. On a wall it is the difference between a large print and a piece that dominates the room, and it changes which wall the print belongs on. Every format we do carry, with the millimetre figures, is set out in the size guide in centimetres.
If you already own an A1 print
Put an A1 sheet into a 70×100 frame and this is what you get: 5.3 cm of bare backing board down each side, and 15.9 cm across the height — roughly 8 cm at the top and 8 at the bottom if you centre it, or the whole 15.9 cm at the bottom if you push the print up to the top edge. It does not read as a border. It reads as the wrong frame, because a border only works when it is deliberate and even on all four sides.
The correct fix is a cut mount with a 59.4 × 84.1 cm window, sitting inside the 70×100 frame. We do not sell mounts in any size, so that is a job for a framer; what a mount actually does, and how the window is measured against the print, is covered in our explanation of mounts and passepartouts. The other route is a made-to-measure A1 frame from the same framer. Both are outside what we stock, and we would rather say so than sell you a frame that leaves a gap.
Bauhaus Woman 02 - David Wolf
Green Hilma - Tara Green
Warrior - Jean Michel Basquiat
Versus Medici - Jean Michel Basquiat
Skull - Jean Michel Basquiat
Trumpet - Jean Michel Basquiat
If you are buying the art now
Then the question disappears. Our prints are produced at 70×100 and our frames are built for 70×100, so the print sits edge to edge with no board showing. Above 50×70 the frame choice narrows to oak or black — the coloured finishes stop at 50×70 — which you can see across the full frame range.
What a 70×100 needs from the wall
Hung portrait with its centre at the standard 145 cm, a 70×100 has its top edge at 195 cm and its bottom edge at 95 cm. That fits a 240 cm ceiling comfortably and a 230 cm ceiling tightly. Sideways it wants clear wall: allow at least 30 cm of bare plaster on each side, so around 130 cm of uninterrupted wall in total.
Against furniture, the two-thirds rule decides. A single 70×100 spans 70 cm portrait or 100 cm landscape, which suits a 150 cm sideboard or a small sofa. Above a 220 cm sofa one is too little — a pair, 6 cm apart, spans 146 cm and lands almost exactly on two thirds. Large single pieces work best where you can stand back from them, which is usually a living room wall rather than a corridor.
If you want to go further up in scale, the step above is 100×140, which is a different problem again and lives in the XL selection.