In the early 1990′s a couple of  pioneers of a new printmaking technique: Maryann Doe of Harvest Productions and Jack Duganne, who was the first printmaker (after David Coons) at Nash Editions, were on the frantic search of a word, that could describe the art, expertise and technically complicated but accurate IRIS printing process.  Iris prints were originally intended for commercial pre-printing processes, since they rendered faithful color before printing large runs.

In 1991, they got it. Duganne had to come up with a print-medium description for a mailer announcing California artist Diane Bartz’ upcoming show. He wanted to stay away from words like “computer” or “digital” because of the negative connotations the art world attached to the new medium plus, they wanted to draw a distinction between the beautiful prints they were laboring over and the utilitarian proofs the commercial printers were cranking out. Just like artist Robert Rauschenberg did when he came up with the term “combines” for his new assemblage art, they needed a new label, or, in marketing terms, a “brand identity.” The makers of digital art needed a word of their own.

Taking a cue from the French word for inkjet (jet d’encre), Duganne opened his pocket Larousse and searched for a word that was generic enough to cover most inkjet technologies at the time and hopefully into the future. He focused on the nozzle, which most printers used. In French, that was le gicleur. What inkjet nozzles do is spray ink, so looking up French verbs for “to spray,” he found gicler, which literally means “to squirt, spurt, or spray.” The feminine noun version of the verb is (la) giclée, (pronounced “zhee-clay”) or “that which is sprayed or squirted.” An industry moniker (neologism) was born.

Nowadays, giclée technology has advanced in ways that were inconceivable before; resolution, output, gamut and colorfastness have improved steadily. In the market of Giclée printers, HP, Canon and Epson have taken the leadership bringing innovative solutions to the printmaking processes. Also, specialized raster image processors (RIP) create bridges that allow improvement and new workflow processes in the giclée printmaking; allowing for printing in a diverse range of medium, substrates and textiles

Source: The True Story of Giclée