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Barton Jones Packaging Ltd
Industry solutions

Packaging for fine art, galleries and picture frames

Corner-protected, glass-safe packs for paintings, prints and framed work moving between studios, galleries, auction houses and private buyers.

The problem

What usually goes wrong

Framed work fails in transit for three reasons: point loads on the corners, flex across the face of the glass, and boxes that are simply the wrong size so the piece moves.

Off-the-shelf boxes almost never fit a frame. The gap gets filled with whatever is on the bench, the pack loses rigidity and one careless handling stage cracks the glazing or dents a moulding.

Galleries also need a pack that looks right on arrival, and that a client or courier can open and re-close without destroying it when work goes out on approval.

Typical pack

Packaging components we usually specify

  • Bespoke double wall outer box made to the frame's exact dimensions
  • Corrugated or foam corner protectors on all four corners
  • Fluted board face pads to stop flex across the glazing
  • Foam inserts or U-profile channels to suspend the frame off the box wall
  • Glassine or acid-free interleaving against the artwork surface
  • Anti-static bubble wrap for glazed and acrylic-faced pieces
  • Reusable, tape-light closures for work travelling out on approval

Materials

Relevant materials and board grades

  • BC double wall (approx. 7mm) for framed work up to around 40kg
  • EB double wall where a clean white or kraft print face matters for gallery presentation
  • Triple wall for oversized canvases, heavy gilt frames and crated pieces
  • U-foam profiles and closed-cell foam for edge and corner suspension
  • Bespoke timber crates for high-value, long-distance or overseas movements

In-house

Our manufacturing and assembly capabilities

  • Made-to-measure boxes cut on our own box-making machines in Letchworth, so the pack fits the frame rather than the frame fitting the pack
  • One-off and short-run sizes with no tooling charge, which suits galleries with a constantly changing inventory
  • Prototype and sample before commitment, so you can drop-test with a real piece
  • Foam inserts cut and fitted in-house as part of an assembled kit
  • Plain kraft or printed outers carrying your gallery branding and handling marks

Stock holding

How we hold stock for you

  • Hold your three or four most-used frame sizes and call them off as exhibitions come up
  • Buy at volume pricing, take delivery only as you need the space
  • Blanket order across a season with scheduled deliveries on our own vehicles

Accreditations

Relevant accreditations for this sector

  • FSC C214479
  • BRCGS Storage & Distribution
  • Verified Carbon Standard
See our accreditations and request the literature

Real example

A Hertfordshire framer, zero breakages across a season

A local framing and gallery business was shipping framed prints in generic single wall boxes with loose fill, and losing roughly one piece in twenty to cracked glazing and dented mouldings.

We measured their six most common frame sizes, made BC double wall boxes to fit, and added die-cut corner protectors plus a foam channel that holds the frame clear of the box wall on every face.

The pack is slightly smaller than the box it replaced, which pulled the parcels down a courier size band. Breakages across the following season went to zero, and the packing time per piece dropped because there is no void to fill.

Sector enquiry

Send us one frame size and we'll spec the pack

Give us the outside dimensions of a frame you ship regularly and roughly how many go out a month. We will come back with a costed pack and a sample to test.

  • Frame outside dimensions (L x W x depth, in mm)
  • Glazed, acrylic or unglazed
  • Weight of the heaviest piece
  • Courier, own van, or overseas freight
Use the enquiry form01462 680888

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