New Lab on the Block: France’s PICTO Launches in U.S. with High-Quality Fare

Photographers casting about for a new lab to bring their photographic visions to life have a new option. France’s PICTO is launching a U.S. web service for print fulfillment (Picto Online) and Picto Atelier, a custom service where photographers can get advice on printing their work.

“High-end labs in New York don’t really do online printing, people can just upload their files that are then individually treated,” a PICTO spokesperson tells us. “For someone willing to use these kind of services even on basic prints (not necessarily for an exhibition), the price will be very high, much higher than for similar services in Europe for instance, which is why a lot of photographers print in Germany, France, Italy for a cheaper price, even with shipping costs.”

You can browse the full PICTO offerings here, but suffice it to say you’ll find a range of output options including canvas, C-prints, metal prints and acrylic. They can print work up to 58 x 120-inches in size.

The Atelier service gives photographers in search of “museum quality” output a personalized experience where they’ll get advice on print process, paper and finishing plus artistic retouching.

They offer a fully-automated API so you can integrate the company’s print services into your own website to sell your images. Services like Zenfolio and Photodeck already use PICTO for fulfillment.

PICTO traces its origins to 1950s Paris where founder and black-and-white photographer Pierre Gassman was working. The company became the first official partner of Magnum Photos and today works with museums and numerous luxury brands.