The Evolution Of Photo Hanging Systems

Displaying treasured photos and artwork in your home or office provides visual interest and personalisation to any space. However, finding the right system to hang these precious pieces can be frustrating. Sticky tack will leave marks on your walls, nails create large holes, and other improvised solutions often result in crooked frames or damaged artwork. Thankfully, innovative photo and art hanging systems have evolved to provide damage-free and adjustable mounting options. Read on to learn about the evolution of specialised hanging systems that will protect your walls and showcase your photos and artwork just the way you imagined.

Gallery Systems UK

Based in the United Kingdom, Gallery Systems UK offers innovative art hanging systems designed specifically for photos, prints, paintings and frames of all sizes. Their systems take the frustration out of hanging artwork and make it simple to create professional gallery-looking displays in your home or office.

What Are Photo Hanging Systems?

Before diving into the evolution of art hanging systems, let's define what they are exactly. Also known as photo hanging systems, these are the hardware and materials used to mount framed photos, prints, paintings, and other flat artwork on walls. They provide an alternative to simply hammering nails into the wall to hang pieces from.

Allowing you to securely hang artwork while protecting the surface of the wall, many systems also allow for adjustable, level mounting so you can align multiple frames in various arrangements while still being easy to remove and rearrange pieces later on without damaging walls.

Types of art or photo hanging systems include:

- Hanging strips with adhesive backs that stick to the wall and frames. These allow you to mount artwork directly on the wall surface.

- Sawtooth hangers attached to the back of the frame or canvas. These grip securely to nails or hooks on the wall.

- Cables with adjustable clips to mount prints and photographs. The cables provide an invisible means of hanging multiple pieces in a row.

- Modular rail systems mounted on the wall. Frames then attach to hooks on the rails. This creates aligned rows or entire gallery wall displays.

- Invisible hooks that stick onto the wall and allow framed pieces to be hung and removed cleanly.

Using the right photo hanging system for your needs means you can arrange collections of visual art decoratively while protecting your walls from damage.

The Frustrations of Hanging Artwork

To understand why specialised art hanging systems have evolved to these solutions, it helps to consider the frustrations of using makeshift hanging methods. Most people's early experiences hanging framed photos or paintings on walls involved few tools other than a hammer and nail. This usually led to unsatisfactory results and damage over time… to either walls, artwork or both.

Improperly mounted pieces would sag, tilt, or even fall. Nails left large, unsightly holes scattered across delicate wall surfaces. Sticky tack pulled the paint off walls when removed. Hooks ripped through drywall; and amateurish attempts to eyeball straight frames led to obvious never went well.

Framed photos and artwork need to be mounted securely to look professional. Yet the limitations of nails and ad-hoc solutions weren’t up to the job and it became clear there had to be a better way. Thus began the evolution of purpose-built photo and art hanging systems.

Early Sawtooth Hanging Systems

One of the earliest evolved solutions for hanging art was the development of sawtooth hangers which consist of a set of metal brackets attached to the rear of a frame or canvas. They are so called, as the protruding angled "teeth"  allow the frame to securely grip a nail driven partway into the wall.

Sawtooth systems provided a more refined option but still required driving nails into the wall and hoping for proper alignment. Sawtooth systems became popular as they allowed more control and high-quality sawtooth hangers are still in use for displaying fine art.

Minimal-Damage Adhesive Systems

Even with finer-hole sawtooth systems, nail holes remained in walls. Plus, sawtooth hangers had limitations in the weight of frames they could safely carry. These factors led to a new evolution in art hanging technology - adhesive hanging strips.

Rather than puncturing the wall, adhesive systems allow frames to be mounted directly onto the wall surface and protect wall surfaces by avoiding nail holes. They’re an effective, damage-free solution for lighter weight prints and art.

Adjustable Rail Gallery Systems

Both sawtooth and adhesive hanging systems still had limitations - they didn’t provide an easy way to ensure frames were mounted in a straight, orderly arrangement. Precisely aligning a series of frames remained frustrating and time consuming which led to the development of modular gallery rail systems.

Gallery rail systems consist of aluminum rails that mount directly onto the wall surface. The rails provide anchor points to attach adjustable hooks, cables or clips in any position along the length of the rail. Framed artwork then hangs from these adjustable attachment points.

Gallery rail systems represented a revolution in art hanging technology. Their adjustability allowed multiple frames to be hung in perfect alignment - a feat difficult to achieve with sawtooth or adhesive hangers alone. Pieces could be removed, added and shifted along the rail to evolve a display. Rails could be mounted horizontally, vertically or in custom layouts as needed.

Specialised Hanging Systems for All Needs

Today companies like Gallery Systems UK offer wide ranges of hanging systems for any situation. Adhesive strips securely mount lightweight items on walls or surfaces without damage. Sawtooth hangers provide versatile mounting for medium-weight paintings and prints. Premium adjustable rail kits create flawless gallery presentations.

Modern homeowners and art venues can now mount artwork with an art gallery's eye for perfection.

The Home Of Fine Art

Whatever you wish to exhibit - from family photos to fine art paintings - Gallery Systems UK has a solution. They carry premium sawtooth hangers, adjustable clip systems, wires, nails, and hardware for any art display needs. With Gallery Systems UK's damage-free mounting options, you can create a home gallery worthy of your most precious masterpieces.

No More Frustration and Sore Thumbs

We all have horror stories about attempting to hang art by makeshift methods. Cheap adhesive hooks peel paint off walls when removed. Nails leave large unattractive holes and improperly hung pieces sag over time or even come crashing down. Poking countless nail holes trying to align multiple pieces leading to sore thumbs and damaged drywall is now a problem of the past.

Protect Your Walls and Artwork

A key benefit of art hanging systems is protecting delicate walls and your framed pieces. Holes, scraped paint and bent frames are no more, as modern hanging systems keep walls smooth and artwork secure.

Get the Gallery Look At Home

Once found only in museums and formal art galleries, systems for professionally hanging and aligning framed art are now available for any home or office. Solutions from Gallery Systems UK allow anyone to mount artwork like the experts without a handyman's help.

Conclusion

Evolving from frustrating nails and improvised solutions, today's art hanging systems make it easy to create professional-looking displays. Protect your walls and properly show off your treasured pieces with the right art hanging system. Gallery Systems UK offers refined solutions for frustration-free fine art displays in any home or office. Contact them today and transform how you showcase special photos and artwork while keeping your walls smooth and pristine.