The Best Practices for Fine Art Shipping - Advice From Art Couriers

Nick Sampson • 29 January 2024

Whether you’re an individual art collector, interior designer or eCommerce seller, you may occasionally need to ship a piece of art. This could be a large canvas or even a sculpture. Art covers a huge realm of possibilities, creating works in all shapes and sizes.

 

This makes it hard to send through the mail and can be costly. It’s best to use the right art couriers to get the job done so you don’t have to worry as much about damage or whether your item makes it to its destination.

 

Here are some tips to help make fine art shipping a little easier.



Keep the work upright

Make sure there is a label on the box or packaging that states which way up the item needs to be. If it is constantly getting flipped over in transit, this can cause the item to move around and potentially get damaged.

 

If you are dealing with sculptures, they must be kept the right way up as it can cause damage to the top if not. Things such as canvas artwork don’t necessarily need to be kept the same way up, but it never hurts to put the labels on anyway.


Pad the boxes

If you are shipping a sculpture, make sure to put enough padding in to stop it from moving around and breaking. You can’t always avoid items being dropped or put at the bottom of a pile, but with the right padding such as packing peanuts and bubble wrap, you can protect the item as much as possible.


Use the right box

It’s important not to skimp on packaging when shipping something important to you or something priceless. Using recycled or old boxes is a surefire way to end up with the box breaking. Make sure to buy brand new boxes for the shipping and opt for a double-walled corrugated cardboard box.


Use professional art couriers

If you require fine art shipping you can trust, contact Nick Sampson today. We are art couriers offering shipping and sculpture installation. So any large art pieces that need to be installed can be left to us. We get the job done without damaging your beautiful artwork.

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