Bride wants a Matted Album - What company makes these?

[ariel_perez2]

<p>So .. I met with a potential bride and she brought this 'huge and heavy' black leather album (about 12x14) with thick pages and matted photos (she borrowed it from a friend) - it weighed about 5 lbs and had at least 50 black carboard style thick pages with lots of pictures throughout - nicely done pages/matts, you could barely notice that these were actual photos. Definitely looks like an expensive product / great quality.<br>

Any idea what company would offer such a product?<br>

I know there might be a lot of possibilities, it's kind of hard to know without seeing and feeling the album, but any guidance would be greatly appreciated.<br>

Thanks!<br>

A</p>

<p> </p>

[mike_bisom]

<p>I know both Zookbinders or Renaissance offer matted albums. I prefer Zookbinders myself. </p>

[picturesque]

<p>Matted albums are generally one of two kinds. The first is called 'slip in' albums, where mats are slipped into pages that have slots in them. The second kind is where the photos are actually permanently affixed to mats, which are the page itself.</p>

<p>Slip in albums are made by Art Leather, Renaissance, Classic Album, General Products, to name a few. The other kind of albums are made by LeatherCrafters, Zookbinders, Classic Album, to name a few. You might want to contact an album distribution company, such as Albums, Inc.--they handle several different brands of these kinds of albums.</p>

[christopher_m]

<p>Matted albums are the most professional, imho. Nadine is correct on the two kinds. I dont' think the slip-in kind is very nice looking as the plastic sheet covers all the photos.</p>

<p>Art Leather and Renasissance are the top tier that I'm familar with. Tap also produces decent quality albums at a lower price.</p>

<p>If you are going to be the one building the album, it takes some time to do the necessary alignment and cropping. So you might want to add some $$ for this task.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Christopher--Art Leather and Renaissance are slip in albums, and have no plastic sheets. LeatherCraftsmen, Zookbinders, etc. affix the photos to the mats and the photos are actually recessed from the page surface, and usually sprayed as well. I realized the grammer on the following sentence was very strange. Here is the correction.</p>

<p>"The second kind is where the photos are actually permanently affixed to mats, which are the pages themselves."</p>

[mike_bisom]

<p>Renaissance also offers a matted album similar to Zookbinders, called the Galleria.</p>

[bc_photo]

<p>I love Cypress Albums, specifically the signature Cypress Album</p>

[dustin_hatcher]

<p>Check for Michael Chinn albums as well. He has a bit of a twist on matted albums and I saw them first hand at this year's WPPI. Definitely very professional looking at a decent price. And all hand-made. His website is just his first and last together with .com. Not sure if I'm supposed to post links, so I won't right now :)</p>

[ariel_perez2]

<p>Thank you all for your suggestions .. I'm checking these companies out.</p>

<p> </p>

[don_bryant2]

<p>Michael Chinn doesn't seem to have a functioning web site any longer.</p>

[dustin_hatcher]

<p>He does, but if you find him through google whatever that link is doesn't work. you just have to use michaelchindotcom<br>

HTH</p>

[kaseymurphy]

<p>Hi there,<br>

Zookbinders has amazing matted albums. I also have experience in designing these albums(previously for bella pictures) and the process is really weird and confusing if you've never done an album like this before.<br>

Zookbinders is really awesome to work with as well. I would recomend them big time.<br>

I can definatly help you if you need any more help and you are looking into zook.</p>

<p>-Kasey</p>

[think27]

<p>Seldex albums are another one... My favorite <a href="http://www.finaoonline.com/" >www.finaoonline.com</a> is the distributor</p>