Giclée (pronounced
"zhee-clay") is an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using inkjet printing
The term is often used by artists and art shops instead of the term "Inkjet". The word
"giclée", from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle",
or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". It was coined by
Jack Duganne,
a printmaker working in the field, to represent any inkjet based
digital print used as fine art. The name was originally applied to fine art prints
created on Iris brand printers in a process invented in the early 1990s
but has since come to mean any fine art quality print produced on any
brand of high-quality (usually 8 or 12 color printers) inkjet printer.
When referring to prints based on photographs, Giclée print images will
often have been digitally manipulated. The intent of these prints is to
create a stylized artistic image rather than a realistic photographic
image.