Transporting a print seems simple — until it isn’t. Paper prints are more fragile than they look, especially during transport. A small bend, a sudden pressure, or poor support can leave marks that are difficult to fix once they appear.
Utiliser un support rigide
The safest way to transport a print is to keep it flat, protected between two rigid surfaces. Cardboard, a portfolio, or a flat folder works well. This prevents bending and protects the print surface from pressure during transport. For most print sizes, two sheets of stiff cardboard cut slightly larger than the print — with the print sandwiched and taped shut at the edges — is enough to survive a car trip, a flight, or a courier handoff without bending.
Rolled or flat — how to choose
Not every print should travel the same way. Small and medium prints (up to roughly A2) generally travel best flat — rigid support keeps them fully protected and ready to frame on arrival. Larger prints are often easier and safer rolled, simply because a rigid flat package that size becomes bulky and harder to handle without flexing. If you do roll a large print, a rigid triangular mailer is a better choice than a plain tube — the angular structure resists crushing and rolling around during transit far more effectively than a cylinder.
Éviter les rouleaux trop serrés
If you need to roll the print for transport, keep the diameter as wide as possible. Tight rolls create stronger memory in the paper and make it harder to flatten later. As a rule of thumb, the roll’s diameter should never be tighter than about 5 cm — anything tighter risks visible creasing along the length of the print, especially on heavier fine art paper.
Protéger la surface
Use a sheet of tissue paper or clean paper to protect the print during transport. This helps avoid scratches, marks, or friction against other surfaces. If the print is rolled, slide it into the tube print-side facing inward, with the protective sheet wrapped around it first — this keeps the surface from rubbing against the inside of the tube during transit.
Une affiche qui arrive en parfait état est avant tout une affiche qui a été manipulée avec soin dès le départ.
Every print from Studio Ninette ships rolled and wrapped in tissue paper, inside a rigid triangular mailer — exactly the kind of protection outlined above, so you don’t have to think about any of it on delivery.
— Studio Ninette, designed in Belgium.