Our History

ESTABLISHED 1989

We are an art reproduction and publishing company based in Brisbane, Australia, which was founded by our Director (Scott) and his brother-in-law in 1989.

As a printer by trade, Scott sought to improve on the printing technique of the day, and provide a higher quality product than had perviously been achieved. His first innovation was to create the Seriset printing process. In the late 1980’s Scott managed the print production for a Brisbane advertising agency, who produced high quality catalogues for a luxury art gallery in Los Angeles. Impressed by the quality of Scott’s work, and after attempting reproduction themselves, the gallery sent seven high value original paintings for Scott to work with. At the time, all art printing was produced on coated (acid containing) paper, the longevity of which caused Scott to experiment with uncoated (acid free) stocks.

The uncoated paper reproductions were dull and lacked vibrancy, so Scott developed a way to combine the silk screen and offset printing processes to create the Seriset process. This would enable original artworks to be reproduced with the vibrancy of colours that were previously only achieved on coated stocks. The uncoated paper that Scott used for production was Arches rag paper, a product made from 100% cotton rather than the wood pulp which is still used in most papers today. The Arches paper mill in France was founded in 1492 and is still the source of the paper we use today.

Scott was awarded a gold medal in the national print awards for his contribution to the industry. The Los Angeles gallery was so impressed with the quality, that they invited Scott to see the works on display at the 1987 Los Angeles Art Expo. It was due to his experience at the show that he decided to turn art reproduction into a business of his own. In 1989 Origin Publishing began representing and reproducing works of a number of artists.

In 1998, Origin was the first to import the Giclée Print Maker, which raised the quality of art reproduction even more. Alongside an exceptionally high resolution digital camera, after-print finishing, and Scott’s skill in colour matching original works, the Giclée process produces the highest quality art reproductions in the world.