Art, coffee, and clear words in a small village
Key Takeaways
Short points to keep in mind
- Giclée prints are high-quality art reproductions made with fine inkjet printers and long-lasting inks.
- RoesD – Giclée Shop in Tolbert in the north of the Netherlands shows and sells many framed giclée prints in a calm, friendly space.
- The shop also offers gifts, cards, books, puzzles, glass objects, and a brasserie corner for coffee and cake.
- A simple Dutch mini-lesson helps visitors understand words like “cadeau” and “lijstenmakerij” on local signs and leaflets.
- One short video from a public art collection explains the main traditional printmaking techniques and helps place giclée in that wider family.
Story & Details
A village shop with prints on every wall
In December 2025, RoesD – Giclée Shop stands as a bright landmark in the village of Tolbert in the north of the Netherlands. It is described as a cosy art shop with a showroom, a gift shop, and a small brasserie. The building sits on a quiet street, and visitors step inside to find walls filled with framed pictures, shelves with books, and a coffee counter at the back.
The atmosphere is relaxed. People walk slowly along the walls, looking at Dutch landscapes, harbour scenes, still lifes, and gentle, humorous images by well-known painters. Others sit at simple tables with a cup of coffee or tea while they talk and look around. The word that appears again and again in public descriptions is “cosy”: warm, welcoming, and comfortable, like a living room that happens to be full of art.
What giclée prints are
The heart of the shop is the giclée print. A giclée is a fine-art print made from a high-quality digital file of an artwork. It is produced on a large inkjet printer that sprays very small drops of pigment ink onto special paper or canvas. The inks are resistant to fading, and the paper and canvas are designed for long life. The goal is simple: a print that looks and feels as close as possible to the original painting or drawing.
Public information about RoesD explains that giclées in the shop are made in limited editions on canvas or fine-art paper. The texts say that under normal indoor conditions the colours can stay fresh for many decades. This makes a giclée a middle choice between an expensive original painting and a cheap poster. It is still a serious art object, but it is within reach for more people.
Many guides to art printing add a bit of history. They explain that the term “giclée” was introduced in the late twentieth century for fine-art inkjet prints that used the best machines and materials. The word comes from French and is linked to the idea of spraying liquid. Over time, the word has become a general label for high-end inkjet fine-art prints made with archival materials.
Inside RoesD – Giclée Shop
Stepping further into the shop, visitors see that the showroom holds not just a few but many framed giclée prints. Public listings speak of a collection of more than seven hundred pieces. The names of the artists appear in regional guides and include Dutch realist painters such as Henk Helmantel, Dinie Boogaart, Ton Dubbeldam, Erik van Ommen, Theo Onnes, and Marius van Dokkum. Their work ranges from quiet farm interiors to wide northern skies, from precise still lifes to playful everyday scenes.
Between the framed works stand racks and tables with smaller items. There are art cards with the same images as the prints, art books and children’s books, calendars, and elaborate puzzles based on paintings by artists like Marius van Dokkum. Glass objects catch the light: bowls, vases, and decorative pieces that reflect the colours around them. Gift vouchers lie ready for people who want to let others choose their own piece later.
The brasserie corner completes the picture. It is part of the shop, not a separate café. Simple chairs and tables stand near the walls, and visitors can order fresh coffee or tea and something sweet. The idea is to take time: to sit, look around, talk, and decide slowly which print or card, if any, should come home.
Framing, gifts, and a live demonstration
RoesD is more than a place to buy finished prints. It also houses a framing workshop. Here, staff help visitors choose frames and mounts for new giclée prints or for artworks they bring from home. There is a wide choice, from modern thin frames to more classic styles. The focus is on matching the colours and the mood of the work to the room where it will hang.
The shop presents itself strongly as a gift destination. Public texts highlight “special gifts and home decoration” and point to art cards, books, calendars, glass objects, and puzzles. A framed giclée can be a large gift for a big occasion, but a small card or a puzzle can also carry a piece of art into someone’s daily life. This flexible range makes the shop attractive for people who might feel shy about entering a traditional gallery.
There is also a group visit, often called a giclée arrangement or experience. On these visits, groups come to the shop to learn how giclée prints are made. They see how a painting is photographed, how the digital file is adjusted, and how the printer lays down the inks. They then enjoy coffee or tea together in the brasserie. Tourism pages present this as a relaxed outing for company groups, clubs, and families, blending technical explanation with a social moment.
A short Dutch mini-lesson
Even without speaking Dutch, visitors can pick up a few useful words from the shop and its leaflets.
The first key word is “giclée.” In this context it simply means a high-quality fine-art print, made with the methods described above. Seeing this word on a sign tells a visitor that these are not simple posters, but serious reproductions.
The second word is “cadeau.” This word appears often in Dutch shops and means “gift.” On the RoesD website and in brochures, it signals that the shop sells presents: cards, books, puzzles, glass objects, and more. When this word appears in a Dutch village street, it is a hint that a visitor can step inside and find something special to take home.
The third word is “lijstenmakerij.” It refers to a framing workshop. When this term appears, it usually marks a place where pictures and paintings are given frames and mounts. In RoesD, it points to the framing service that sits beside the showroom and the brasserie.
Together, these three words—giclée, cadeau, lijstenmakerij—form a tiny language kit for art lovers moving through the Dutch north.
Giclée and the wider world of printmaking
Giclée printing is part of a much larger story: the story of printmaking. For centuries, artists have used methods such as woodcut, etching, lithography, and screen printing to make multiple images. Each method uses a different base—a block of wood, a metal plate, a stone, or a mesh screen—and each leaves its own kind of line and texture.
A clear, short film from the Arts Council Collection in the United Kingdom, titled “The Printed Line: An Introduction to Printmaking Techniques,” shows four main traditional methods side by side. An art historian explains how each process works and what kind of image it produces. The video is free to watch and comes from an official public collection, so it is widely used in schools and museums as a basic guide.
Watching this film, then visiting or imagining RoesD – Giclée Shop, helps link old and new. Traditional prints made on presses and stones stand at one end, modern giclée prints made on digital machines at the other. Both rely on skill, tools, and careful choices about paper and ink. Both turn single artworks into series that many people can enjoy.
Conclusions
A gentle doorway into art
RoesD – Giclée Shop shows how a technical process can feel human and local. In a single village building, giclée printing becomes something that can be seen, touched, chosen, and discussed over coffee. The showroom, the gift shelves, the framing workshop, and the brasserie work together as one calm space rather than four separate businesses.
For visitors in 2025, the shop offers an easy introduction to giclée prints and to printmaking in general. The prints on the walls are bright and varied, the words are simple, and the welcome is relaxed. Alongside a well-chosen video on printmaking, the place makes clear that fine-art prints are not distant or hard to understand. They can live in a cosy room in a small village, ready to travel to homes near and far.
Selected References
Reading and viewing for curious visitors
[1] RoesD – Giclée Shop. Main site with information about the shop, giclée prints, framing service, gifts, and brasserie. Available at: https://www.roesd.nl/
[2] RoesD – Giclée Shop. Page explaining what a giclée is, including limited editions, materials, and colourfastness. Available at: https://www.roesd.nl/giclee
[3] RoesD – Giclée Shop. Contact and practical details, including address in Tolbert and opening days. Available at: https://www.roesd.nl/contact
[4] Visit Groningen. Tourism entry describing RoesD as a cosy art shop with showroom, gift shop, brasserie, and many art products. Available at: https://www.visitgroningen.nl/en/locations/1963570649/roesd-giclee-shop
[5] Local Groningen. Short profile of RoesD – Giclée Shop as an art shop and brasserie with more than 700 giclées and souvenirs by several Dutch artists. Available at: https://localgroningen.nl/nl/b/roesd-kunstwinkel-en-giclee-shop
[6] Toegankelijk Groningen. Accessibility and visitor information for RoesD – Giclée Shop, including description of the showroom, gift shop, and brasserie. Available at: https://www.toegankelijkgroningen.nl/locaties-overzicht/1874062558/roesd-giclee-shop
[7] Giclée Shop (national dealer site). Explanation of giclée reproductions as high-quality, affordable alternatives to original paintings. Available at: https://www.giclee-shop.nl/
[8] Arts Council Collection. “The Printed Line: An Introduction to Printmaking Techniques.” Short YouTube film explaining four main printmaking methods, published on the official Arts Council Collection channel. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYJUEmEvfZw
[9] Wikipedia. General overview of giclée, including history of the term and its use in fine-art inkjet printing. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gicl%C3%A9e
[10] Re-Art. Explanation of giclée prints, materials, and advantages for artists and collectors. Available at: https://www.re-art.com/en/giclee-prints-english/
Appendix
Brasserie
A small café area, often inside a shop or cultural space, where visitors can sit together and enjoy simple drinks and snacks such as coffee, tea, and cake.
Cadeau
A Dutch word that means “gift” and appears on signs and leaflets to show that presents and small special objects are for sale.
Cosy
An English adjective, common in British and European use, for a place that feels warm, safe, and comfortably relaxed, like a friendly village shop or living room.
Giclée
A fine-art print made with a high-resolution inkjet printer that uses archival pigment inks on quality paper or canvas, usually in limited editions, to come close to the look of an original artwork.
Giclée Experience
A group visit at RoesD – Giclée Shop that combines an explanation and live demonstration of giclée printing with time in the showroom and brasserie.
Lijstenmakerij
A Dutch term for a framing workshop, where pictures and prints are fitted with frames, mounts, and glass so they are ready to hang.
Printmaking
The set of artistic methods that create images by transferring ink from a prepared surface, such as a block, plate, stone, screen, or digital print head, onto paper or another material, allowing multiple copies of the image to exist.
RoesD – Giclée Shop
An art shop in Tolbert in the north of the Netherlands that combines a large showroom of giclée prints with a gift shop, framing service, and small brasserie.
Tolbert
A village in the northern Netherlands, known here as the home of RoesD – Giclée Shop and as a quiet stop for visitors interested in art and local culture.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 