Frequently Asked Questions

Piezography Pro is a carbon ink-based process consisting only of black inks, created in 2016 by Jon Cone. blackprint is using the process since the same year. The system includes a set of warm and cold tone inks, a matt HD-black, a photo black (glossy) and a gloss chroma optimizer. The process allows the mixing of warm and cool black values either throughout the print or by varying them differently on the light, medium or dark tones. This makes it possible to have a totally personalised black and white print. The new Piezography Pro Matte HD Black is the extremely dark matte black and the Gloss Chroma Optimizer completely eliminates gloss differential and tanning. Finally, the white value of the paper is a very important element for the Piezography Pro as its white tone will influence the final black and white tone of the print too.

Just about anyone you want. We continually research and test papers from around the world, especially uncoated art papers, rare papers and washi produced by living national treasures. We print on the world’s thinnest 1.6 gr/m² Japanese paper, black abaca handmade papers, 500 gr/m² art papers with deckled edges, as well as Hahnemühle, Canson, Moab, matte, glossy, silver photographic papers. Each of our papers is tested and calibrated to obtain the highest black intensity and the softest gradations of grey. If we haven’t already tested or calibrated a paper you want, we will do it for you.

Yes, we can test it to see how it reacts and what it can offer as a black and white print. If it suits you the price of the print varies depending on the difficulty of printing your paper.

The maximum width at the moment is 100 cm. The width of most of our washi or deckled edges art paper is smaller.

You can send us a file made with your iphone and we will tell you what printing possibilities it will allow. We have printed some on 20 gr/m² Bhutanese handmade paper with a very beautiful result. Generally, we print files in 16 bits, 300 dpi and in Tiff with gamma profile 2.2.

Yes, we do, we use a Screen Cezanne Elite FT-S5500 scanner which scans up to 329 x 530 mm (13.0″ x 20.9″) and up to 25 mm (1″) thick. We use it for all our historical plates to print them 10 times larger with a very high quality of details. As for this edition “balloon”, for example, it was made from an originale 9 x 12cm plate of 1910. Retouching is also possible. Prices for scans and retouching are shown in our price list.

We work together with two Zurich craftsmen to produce custom-made frames and we can also offer you alternatives.

Our price list is available online, the list of our papers and formats is indicative. Do not hesitate to write to us for a specific size or paper that is not on our list.

Yes, we offer an alternative pricing for a photographer or artist who wants to print an edition of their work and resell it for example.

All our editions come from our private collection of original glass plates (positive and negative) dating from 1860 to 1910 ca.

We research, purchase and carry out all historical research for each plate published by blackprint edition.

The Karo Edition is dedicated to our private collection of glass plates. We bring to life 150-year-old photographs by printing them on exclusive paper from Switzerland and Japan. We deliver the pieces in a brown/black, vinyl style packaging, with a round see-through window but you can choose to buy them framed too. The pieces from the Karo Edition are available in limited editions. They are 30 × 30 cm and numbered.

The Private collection represents a unique selection from our negative and positive glass plates collection. We choose pieces with special subject matters and print them on rare art paper such as Cartalafranca, Arches Velin BFK Rives, and traditional Japanese paper.

The pieces from the Private collection are available in limited editions of 5, 10, or 15 copies. Each piece is numbered and comes with a certificate. You can choose to buy them framed or unframed.

Artist editions are exclusive works of art in very limited editions realised in close collaboration with each artist chosen by blackprint edition.

Each edition is entirely self-produced and printed by blackprint studio. Some editions often become available after several months of research and design. All exemplar is signed and numbered by the artist and delivered with a certificate of authenticity.

The 1^st series “Karo” edition (Nr.001 to Nr.005) are 365 copies per subject. The 2^nd series (Nr.011…) is 90 copies per subject.

“Karo collector” do not exceed 30 copies.

The “Private collection” editions are produced at 15 copies.

“Artists edition” between 5 and 7 copies + 2AP except for those whose price is less than CHF.500.– which are then produced at 60 copies.

“3/4 edition” are produced ar 200 copies.

All blackprint editions are numbered or signed and numbered by hand mostly on the back (except 1 or 2 exceptions requested by the artists themselves).

6 dots in relief are visible in the right corner of the work for all our blackprint editions on paper.

All blackprint editions “Karo collectors“, “Private collection” and “Artists edition” are delivered with a blockchain certificate of authenticity Verisart. Exceptions are the “Karo edition“.

It was crucial for blackprint to ensure transparency in transactions and properties to strengthen the confidence of collectors in the purchasing process, as well as that of the artists represented by blackprint.

Therefore, since September 2022, blackprint issues certificates of authenticity using VERISART blockchain technology for all(*) editions produced in its studio in Zürich (Blackprint edition).

These certificates leverage the decentralization of the blockchain, making it extremely difficult for unauthorized parties to manipulate or create fraudulent certificates.

They guarantee a secure, transparent, and immutable record of each artwork’s details, including information about the artist, provenance, and other relevant details, providing a reliable and easily verifiable record of the origin of each blackprint edition.

Each artist represented in the blackprint edition individually certifies each digital certificate of authenticity.

blackprint currently issues two types of certificates of authenticity:

COA + (Certificate of Authenticity +):
This introduces Secure QR Stickers, a technology of holographic stickers with a unique serial number and a secure QR code for individualized authentication. They are applied to the physical artwork and connected to the corresponding digital certificate.

Certificate of Authenticity:
Exclusively digital certificate without Secure QR Sticker.

(*) Except for certain artist editions and Karo editions #01, #02, #03, and #04.

For more information about the Verisart certificates of authenticity, please click on this link.

“karo” edition is 30 × 30 cm.
“karo collector”, 30 × 30 and 35 × 35 cm.
The “limited” edition produced on paper and washi handcraft of very high quality, they do not currently exceed the size of 56 × 76 cm.
The editions made of laminated glass range from 50 × 75 to 110 × 140 cm.

All blackprint editions are printed in Piezography Pro, the digital black and white monochrome process with the highest printing quality and using only black carbon-based inks. All our photographs / drawings are printed in 2880 dpi unidirectional from a 16-bit file (65,000 gray values).

We use, with rare exceptions, archival papers (pH Neutral) of the highest quality. Mainly Japanese papers (washi), Arches Velins and various art papers produced by craftsmen in the West and in Asia.

The blackprint editions with glass lamination are pieces made with an absolutely unique process.
The printed artwork is positioned between two 2mm thick mineral glasses (extra-clear or museum glass without reflection). The whole is then heated and welded for one day in a specific vaccum oven. Each glass edge of the work is then polished.

All our frames are of professional gallery/museum quality. The majority of the frames are made to measure by a Swiss craftsman and are made of wood with museum glass (without reflection).

All editions are produced, designed and printed by blackprint in Zurich. The frames are made by two Zurich craftsmen with few exceptions. The laminated glass is produced in Ticino, Switzerland.

The blackprint editions are available on our online store and can be viewed at the blackprint studio in Zurich.

Some “karo editions” are also available at:

Ars-Imago
Badenerstrasse 211, 8003 Zürich

Fotozentrum Museumsshop
Grüzenstrasse 45, CH-8400 Winterthur

No, you can also order as a guest.

Creating an account allows you to keep a history of your orders, store multiple shipping and billing addresses, also to receive exclusive promotions and preview access to the new editions before that they are publicly visible on blackprint edition.

In both cases you will receive a confirmation of your order by email.

Yes, please confirm your cancellation by email at edition@blackprint.photo or even by sending us a Telegram or WhatsApp message !

Please send us an email to edition@blackprint.photo with screenshots of the pages that prevent you from placing your order and your delivery address. We will do our best to register your order online as soon as possible.

We accept Stripe & Paypal for using VISA and MASTERCARD. Apple Pay, Google Pay, TWINT, and BANK TRANSFER.

The blackprint online shop offers the ‘Pay later’ TWINT function as a payment option, allowing you to decide whether you want to make an immediate TWINT payment or defer it for 30 days.

Payment with Postfinance is also available, along with the ‘click&collect’ option for picking up your edition at the blackprint studio in Zurich.

Additionally, you can pay with crypto at checkout with Crypto.com Pay, Nowpayments or other Ethereum/ERC-20 compatible wallets (such as MetaMask, WalletConnect Protocol). We accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Tez (XTZ) and other cryptocurrencies.

Yes, the entire blackprint.photo website uses a professional SSL encryption certificate so that all exchanges between our website and your browser are encrypted, and no payment methods are carried out on our website or on our Swiss server but processed directly by secure and optimised payment services such as Twint, PayPal, Stripe and Crypto.com Pay

Yes, but if your country is not available at the time of your order. Please send an email to edition@blackprint.photo or a message on Telegram.

Yes, we currently offer free worldwide delivery for all our frameless and non-laminated glass editions. For Switzerland, delivery is free even for framed editions.

In Switzerland between 2 to 4 days. For the rest of the world between 7 to 20 days.

The shipping of the editions is done with the Swiss postal services. (ECONOMY, PRIORITY and EXPRESS).

Yes, pick-up at the blackprint studio in Zurich is possible. It is a “shipping” option automatically proposed during you order if your address is in Switzerland.

Yes, you will receive a tracking number by email with each order and before shipment.

Please contact us immediately by email at edition@blackprint.photo or by Whats App or Telegram with the number +41 77 491 04 50, providing us with photos of the package and the damaged artwork. The price of the re-shipment will be refunded and a new edition will be sent to you as soon as possible.

Our editions are declared at the purchase price at the time of shipment and are sent from Zürich – Switzerland and are therefore subject to customs import taxes outside of Switzerland.

The taxes are different for each country and vary according to the value of the edition. blackprint edition unfortunately cannot offer you detailed information on these customs taxes.

Do not hesitate to write to us to ask a question by email, on instagram or on telegram.