There are three main metrics directly affect how a printed image will look: paper coating, weight (measured in GSM – grams per square meter), and thickness (measured in microns). These influence how the ink sits, how colors

In this article, I want to introduce a framework for understanding art production that might change how you look at art as a whole. It developed gradually in my mind as I went through various printmaking courses and noticed how certain methods shared similar principles and values, while others though producing similar visual results relied on completely different processes…

It used to be that all photographs were prints. Today, however, most photographers no longer print their work, and printing is too often dismissed as unworthy of a ‘serious’ artist. Yet understanding the full chain of value creation in printing could change how prints are seen and valued—by collectors and photographers alike.

In Part I, we followed the 2,000-year journey of papermaking, from its origins in ancient China to today’s advanced inkjet papers. Now, in Part II, we explore how modern technology is reviving old innovations and giving them new life: inkjet coatings.

Without paper, a digital photograph is just another content—something to swipe past. Paper turns it into art, into a physical object that shares space with us, demands attention, and holds its own weight in the world. But what is paper, really? Just a surface or a medium, a message or the messenger?