[Art Collector’s Etiquette] What Frame Lets You Frame a “B1 Poster” Affordably?

Framing a B1 Poster

Lately the number of posters I own has grown, and I’ve been pushing ahead with framing and filing my B2 posters. As the count rises, a “poster file” that lets you manage them together is a great help — but there’s no B1 version. As far as I know, a B1 poster can currently only be framed or stored in a poster case.

And framing a size as huge as B1 — 72.8 × 103.0 cm — takes over the wall space at home. I’d never been able to commit to framing one, but after receiving a solo-exhibition poster by Kenjiro Okazaki and deciding, “This one I want to frame and display!”, I took the plunge and bought a frame.

In this article, I’d like to bring you a purchase report of an affordable, good-quality frame for B1 posters.

B1 Poster Frames

At a store’s poster-frame section, B2-size frames come in rich variety and abundance. B1-size frames, on the other hand, don’t offer as many choices as B2. Among them, I found a poster panel with a good balance of price and quality.

Looking at the price tag, it’s an affordable item — pay ¥3,000 and you’d get change. The one I chose is sold by an aluminum-frame maker called IPS Inc.
With its low price and the reassurance of a domestic aluminum-frame maker, I decided to buy it.

I bought mine at a physical store, but it also seems to be sold on Rakuten Ichiba.
Since it’s quite a large item, be careful of wind and of handling it in crowds. Wind in particular hits hard — with such a large surface area, it catches the full force and gets buffeted.
If possible, buying online might be the better bet (shipping costs extra).

I actually tried framing it.
The front is UV-cutting recycled PET material, and a thin sheet of styrofoam is attached on the wall side.

You slide the poster in smoothly from top to bottom to seat it. Insert it slowly with both hands and it goes in fine, no special skill required. It’s designed to be easy to handle, so framing goes smoothly.

I finished mounting it in a few minutes.
With small hooks on all four corners, you can display it vertically or horizontally. *No cord is included, so you’ll need to prepare one separately.

Much cheaper items are sold on Amazon. Uneasy about buying without seeing the real thing, I couldn’t bring myself to do it… Buyers may want to be careful.

What I feel after framing it is: B1 is big, all over again! I could create an imposing framed piece, which was satisfying.

Details

Beauty Poster Panel, B1 size
Sold by: IPS Inc.
B1 size (728 × 1030 mm)
Material: aluminum
Colors: silver, bronze, gold, black, white
*Other sizes: B2, B3, B4, A1, A2, A3, A4, Rokugiri, Yotsugiri, Hangiri, Zenshi, Zenbai
Accessories: none *No cord or other accessories are included.