The Fine Art Trade Guild represents the art and framing industry and is its voice to government, the media and other agencies. It sets and maintains industry standards for the benefit of members and their customers.

Click here to view the guilds website.

The ICC are responsible for developing and maintaining standards of colour reproduction across multiple devices and operating systems. Giving all artists the security that their digital image files will look the same no matter where or when they are opened.

For more details about the International Color Consortium click here.

ARTtrust
The ARTtrust system uses the ARTtrust Bubble Tag™, a label in which a random set of air bubbles is encapsulated in a translucent polymer film. The label uses a pH-neutral, non-acidic adhesive that won’t affect the archival properties of the print and has already been approved by authorities such as the Swiss Institute of Gemmology and the French Ministry of Industry.
ARTtrust was incubated at Hewlett-Packard (HP) in partnership with Prooftag and Wilhelm Imaging Research. It was presented for the first time at Photo Plus Expo in October, and won the DIMA award at PMA.
www.arttrustonline.com

FOGRA Testing
The objective of Fogra (Fogra Graphic Technology Research Association) is to promote print engineering and its future-oriented technologies in the fields of research, development and application, and to enable the printing industry to utilize the results of this activity.
Fogra has over 600 members. About two thirds of them are graphic art businesses operating in fields ranging from prepress through to bookbinding, while the remaining third are suppliers.
Paper and board
Fogra offers printing trials of paper and board in order to assess print- and runability. In the main, it is paper merchants and manufacturers who are interested in such trials and they generally submit several papers for assessment. However, printers also use these trials as a means of selecting the right substrate.
www.forgra.org

Wilhelm Testing
Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. conducts research on the stability and preservation of traditional and digital color photographs and motion pictures. The company publishes brand name-specific permanence data for desktop and large-format inkjet printers and other digital printing devices. Wilhelm Imaging Research also provides consulting services to museums, archives, and commercial collections on sub-zero cold storage for the very long term preservation of still photographs and motion pictures.
www.wilhelm-research.com

What is FSC?
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way. Landowners and companies that sell timber or forest products seek certification as a way to verify to consumers that they have practiced forestry consistent with FSC standards.

How does FSC work?
Independent certification organizations are accredited by FSC to carry out assessments of forest management to determine if standards have been met. These certifiers also verify that companies claiming to sell FSC certified products have tracked their supply back to FSC-certified sources. This chain-of-custody certification assures that consumers can trust the FSC label.

Why FSC?
Trusted environmental organizations including Greenpeace, National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, and World Wildlife Fund all support and encourage FSC certification. Consumers wishing to support healthy forests and communities should look for and request the FSC label when purchasing wood or paper products.

What kind of products are certificated?
Any product made of solid wood or paper has the potential to be certified as long as wood used in the product originates from an FSC-certified source. There are currently more than 10,000 FSC-certified products available worldwide. Sample products include lumber, flooring, furniture, doors, decking, paper, cutting boards, and even guitars.

For more information about the FSC click here to visit their website.