A Guide to Choosing & Living With Canvas Wall Art
Canvas brings a softer, more textural presence to a wall than glass and frame. Here’s how to choose the right piece, the right finish and the right size — made to order in our Cape Town studio and delivered to your door.
What kind of art actually suits canvas?
Canvas flatters art with movement and broad areas of colour — the matte, woven surface soaks up light instead of bouncing it back. Reach for canvas when the piece is abstract, painterly, bold-coloured or an atmospheric photograph. Lean towards a framed print when the work lives on fine detail, delicate line work or crisp typography, where glass and a mount add crispness and protection. Bold, painterly abstracts and atmospheric photography are a natural place to start.
Canvas or framed? How to choose
| If you want… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Warmth, texture, no glass glare | Canvas | Matte woven surface, no reflections |
| Crisp detail and a gallery-formal look | Framed print | Glass & mount sharpen fine detail |
| A big statement that stays light on the wall | Canvas | The deep edge reads as sculptural |
| To protect a delicate or collectible piece | Framed print | Glass and mount shield the artwork |
The canvas finishes we offer
Every Stone & Gray canvas is printed on premium fine-art cotton canvas and stretched by hand over a 35mm Obeche timber frame in our Cape Town studio. You choose how the edge is finished.
Mirror-wrap (plain mounted)
The border of the image is mirrored around the deep 35mm edge, so the artwork is never cut off and there’s no blank white edge — a clean, frameless finish that’s ready to hang straight from the box. It suits bold abstract and full-bleed work beautifully. For the technical side, see how canvas wraps differ from a stretched canvas.
Floater frame
Prefer a finished edge? A genuine timber floater frame (12mm × 50mm) sits a few millimetres off the canvas so the piece appears to float inside it — a slim, contemporary border with no glass. Choose from four colours: White, Black, Beechwood or African Teak (Kiaat).
Sizing your canvas
As a rule of thumb, a piece above a sofa or bed looks best at around two-thirds the width of the furniture below it, with a hand’s-width gap above. The deep 35mm Obeche frame makes a canvas read a little larger than the same-size framed print, so you can usually size down a step. Our canvases come in square formats from 30×30 up to 100×100 cm, plus portrait and landscape sizes. Planning something bigger? See our guide to a large statement wall.
Caring for your canvas
There’s no glass to clean — just dust the surface now and then with a dry, soft cloth. Keep it out of direct sunlight and damp, and don’t lean anything against the face. Each canvas is made to order and hand-finished, so it arrives ready to live with for years.
Shop canvas by category
These are the styles that look best on canvas. Choose a category, then select Mounted Canvas as the type on any piece. Every canvas is made to order in Cape Town and delivered free across South Africa.
Canvas prints: your questions answered
Is canvas or a framed print better for my room?
Canvas suits bold, textural and abstract work and rooms where glass glare is a nuisance; framed prints suit fine detail and a more formal look. The table above breaks it down.
What is a mirror-wrap finish?
The border of the image is mirrored around the deep 35mm edge of the timber frame, so nothing is cut off and there’s no blank white edge. The canvas needs no separate frame and is ready to hang.
What is a floater frame?
A slim 12mm × 50mm timber frame that sits just off the canvas so it appears to float — available in White, Black, Beechwood or African Teak (Kiaat).
What size canvas should I get above my sofa?
Aim for about two-thirds of the sofa’s width, with a small gap above.
How do I care for a canvas print?
Dust with a dry, soft cloth; keep out of direct sun and damp. There’s no glass to clean.
Do you deliver canvas prints across South Africa?
Yes — free door-to-door delivery nationwide, made to order from our Cape Town studio.
