A frame does three jobs, and they pull in different directions. It protects the paper, it separates the image from the wall, and it belongs to the room's furniture rather than to the picture. Most framing mistakes come from optimising one of those and forgetting the other two — a heavy frame that protects beautifully and swallows the print, or a barely-there frame that looks modern and leaves the image floating. Four decisions settle it.
1. Size first, and it is not negotiable
A poster frame is made for one format. There is no adjustment, no trimming that looks good, and no mount to take up the difference, because we do not sell passepartouts. So the frame follows the print exactly: 21×30, 30×42, 50×70, 70×100 or 100×140.
The trap is A-sizes. The two smallest formats are A4 and A3 and behave as expected. The three largest are Nordic centimetre sizes, not A-formats. An A2 sheet is 42×59.4 cm, so in a 50×70 frame it leaves roughly 8 cm at the sides and 11 cm at the bottom — a gap that looks like a mistake rather than a margin. Frames built to other national standards do not fit either: their proportions run between 1:1.25 and 1:1.5, ours at 1:1.4. Every figure is set out in the size guide.
2. Finish
| Finish | Available in | Does this to a print |
|---|---|---|
| Oak | all five sizes | warms it, lightens it, recedes on a pale wall |
| Black | all five sizes | sharpens it, adds contrast, defines the edge |
| White | up to 50×70 | disappears on a white wall; the quietest option |
| Dark brown | up to 50×70 | softer than black, warmer than oak |
| Blue, green, red, yellow, pink | up to 50×70 | makes the frame part of the composition |
Read the middle column carefully before planning a scheme around colour. Above 50×70 the choice is oak or black and nothing else. That is where the range stops, not a stock gap. The full set is in the frame range.
Solid oak frame 21x30 cm
Black wooden frame 50x70 cm
Black wooden frame 30x42 cm
Black wooden frame 21x30 cm
Solid oak frame 30x42 cm
Solid oak frame 50x70 cm
3. Width, against the image
A frame profile is a border, and borders behave proportionally. The same moulding that looks considered on a 21×30 looks thin on a 100×140, because the eye judges the border against the picture, not in millimetres.
| Format | Image area | How the profile reads |
|---|---|---|
| 21×30 | 0.06 m² | a definite border; the frame is half the object |
| 30×42 | 0.13 m² | balanced |
| 50×70 | 0.35 m² | a fine line around the image |
| 70×100 | 0.70 m² | an edge, barely a border |
| 100×140 | 1.40 m² | the image dominates entirely |
The practical consequence: at the two smallest sizes the frame colour is a real design decision, because you see a lot of it. At the two largest it is almost only a boundary, which is part of why the colours are unnecessary up there.
4. Glass, and whether the print needs it
Glazing is what makes framing worth the trouble. It takes dust, fingerprints, cooking film and splashes, and all of those can be wiped off glass and none can be wiped off paper. In a kitchen or a bathroom it is not optional. In a bedroom a bare print will survive for years.
It is also the weight. From 70×100 up, the glass is the heaviest component, and a frame that size needs two people to hang and a fixing rated for the load — not a pin, and not an adhesive strip. The one accessory we make is a single wall hook, in the accessories; anything heavier duty comes from a hardware shop.
What we do not offer
No passepartouts or mat boards, no poster hangers, no washi tape, and no 30×40 cm — our nearest is 30×42, which is A3. If you want a mount, our prints are designed to fill the frame instead, and the mount guide explains what you would be adding and when it is worth having cut elsewhere. Height is the last step and it is the same for every frame: centre at 145 cm, per the hanging height guide.