The Top Question You Should Ask When Buying An Oak-Framed Canvas Print

The wall art industry is highly-competitive so it's no surprise many retailers out there are looking to cut costs as much as possible. 

First up, we're not here to throw shade - we also like to offer low-price options while maintaining quality standards, and we know that the best possible price is what customers expect and deserve. 

We also believe that it's important to be up-front about materials used.

At I Heart Wall Art, we recently moved from offering natural timber frames for our canvases to a new line of raw, sustainably-sourced, Australian-grown oak. It costs a little bit more but it's a vastly better product. 

That's because we also think it's important not only to maintain quality, but also to know the provenance of our materials. It's better for the planet. 

We think there's one important question you should ask if you're shopping for an oak-framed canvas print (from us, or anywhere else). 

Is it actually an oak frame?

A lot of other retailers out there market oak framed products while actually framing in plastic or cheap pine wrapped in paper to look like oak. 

We bought this piece from a major up-market art retailer:

It's fine, but it isn't oak. (And over time, you may see that paper start to peel off, particularly in the corners...)

To be clear, this product was marketed and sold as oak. While using faux materials can be great way to get the look for less, we think it's important for retailers to be up front about the materials they're actually using. 

Most of these materials are imported from China and their provenance prior to that is unclear. 

If you're looking at buying with another retailer, make sure to ask whether their oak frame is real oak, or a substitute. 

If you're shopping with us, rest assured that if we call something oak, it is indeed oak from an actual oak tree. Better yet, it's been grown in Australia under tight forestry regulations and is sustainably-sourced, so you can enjoy that new artwork guilt-free.