Studio M Vintage Posters

Professional Service – We are lucky that the only business in Australia to offer commercial poster preservation/restoration is a first class operation at a very reasonable price. I sent my vintage film poster to Hanna and the crew for linen backing and edge restoration after conversing via email to discuss options and a quote. I immediately felt comfortable that I… Read more

was dealing with professionals and my poster would be in good hands. I was sent an photo of how it arrived at Studio M, and then a photo at completion. I wanted the age and history of my poster to be preserved, not concealed, so they were light-handed with their work, only doing the necessary for it to present well.

When I collected the poster, Hanna talked me through everything that had been done and was happy to explain the processes of some larger projects she was working on.

A great experience from people who clearly love and take pride in their work. I will be returning!

Fantastic friendly and professional service – The team at Studio M have been extremely helpful and professional with the restoration and preservation of five of our posters. Each poster had a different requirement, linen backing and restoration for some and the sensitive preservation of one poster retaining the patina of its history. We look forward to having our new circus poster linen backed.

Resurrection from the drab – The team at Studio M were tasked with the challenge of repairing a grubby, stained, torn poster with pieces of text missing, and their work on the restoration was magnificent. I have since had similar results and have the highest praise for the professionalism of their services.

The only studio I trust – I have had several vintage daybill film posters linenbacked by Studio M - expertly done with a quick turn around time at a reasonable price. New owners has made this business a pleasure to deal with.

Two thumbs up – Very pleased with the linen backing of my vintage movie posters, I will be using this studio again for backing and restoration work. Professional service, easy to deal with, cost is agreed up front. Thanks

Excellent – I sent my Star Wars Style A One sheet away on the Monday, i received it back on the Friday, expertly linen backed. Very thankful and Studio M did a great job. Will definitely go with them again.

Does a great job, can't fault him – He is extremely knowledgeable (trained in New York) and most patient with his advice, he understands this is your 'baby' - I have had several posters done by Michael can't fault him.

Thumbs Up – I have been a customer for around 9 years of Studio M and have found it always to be a great place to buy posters and also for restoring my posters. I have learned a lot about posters and restoration through my dealings with Studio M, especially when I was a newbie starting out in this great hobby of collecting posters. Studio M has a large… Read more

range of linen backed original vintage foreign and local posters for sale. The collection is always growing with many new posters to view/for purchase every time I visit. Studio M's experience and contacts in the industry result in many beautiful posters always being added to the collection. My favorites are foreign posters made using stone lithography meaning the colours are stunningly vibrant making the posters look amazing hung on the walls.

Studio M has also linen backed, I don't know, I guess, 30 or 40 posters of my posters, from sizes smaller than a daybill but more often than not they are around one sheet size to bigger than 6 sheet size. The linen is of a sturdy quality, much better than the flimsy thin linen often used by overseas linen backers. A descent margin of linen is left around the edges of the posters which help to protect the poster better from knocks and also allowing it to be pinned up if needed without needing to pin thru the actual poster.

With restoration, I have had minor touching up done on fold lines and bits of paper replacement if pieces were missing from the original poster. I have been happy with this, frequently amazed how folds disappear. European style is to not touch up/pencil any of the poster. I also keep this to a minimum as it is not economical for me to have the hours/cost dedicated to it - it can be a manually labour intensive process.

I have had a very positive experience dealing with Studio M and would highly recommend them.

Do Not Use Studio M Vintage Posters – For those looking to restore and linen-back their vintage posters there is only one choice in Australia, and the owner of Studio M Vintage Posters knows this. I had a bulk collection of posters that needed linen backing; they needed a little but not excessive restoration. When I contacted Studio M Vintage posters I told the owner this, and that… Read more

was my first mistake - he took this as a license to mean: do nothing. On initial contact his emails sounded serious and conscientious; he presented himself as a dedicated artist. However the moment he discovered I was in Melbourne (his studios are in Alexandria and Waterloo in Sydney) the tone of his emails changed completely. He became blase, indifferent to any of my concerns and once he actually had the posters in his possession, completely disinterested. The only time he sounded enthusiastic was when I didn't challenge him about the price he was charging and the time to complete the restoration. Perhaps it was a mistake for me not to bargain with him but as a fellow artist I respected what I thought was his craft and I expected him to do a good job. Wrong. He has been in business long enough that he can pick and choose which projects he puts no effort into. I believe he gauges whether or not he can take advantage of a customer and when he thinks a client is unknowledgeable or not particular, he does a slap-dash job and wipes his hands of it. If only he HAD wiped his hands:

As I had sent him eight daybill and two one-sheet movie posters separately, I requested that they be sent back the same way. In my past experience: rolling ten heavily backed linen posters together is a mistake: especially freshly airburshed and restored posters that could cross-contaminate. He was happy to accept the extra postage however but he refused my request and rolled them tightly in one package. When I unpacked them; I almost cried in despair.

My very expensive, rare posters were covered in dark, inky finger marks. I initially noticed the smudges on the linen, but when I looked closer I saw them all over the actual posters as well. Not just smudges and smears but clear imprints of thumbs and fingers. I tried to remove some of them from the back of the posters but soon realised it wasn't dirt, but either black ink or dye. I could not believe a "professional" would treat my posters this way. All I can think of was that my request to post them separately because of fear of marks, annoyed him so much he took perverse pleasure in damaging them on purpose. I wondered why a "professional" would ruin his own work this way but soon realised, he hadn't actually done any work.

Looking closer, every single one of the ten posters had been damaged in some way. Before sending the posters I wrote him a very detailed and specific email outlining my concerns with each poster and what I wanted to have done. This was all agreed to by him. I then spent hours photographing each item from every angle so he would know exactly what he was getting and so there would be no surprises. NOT ONE problem that need restoration was attended to. All the heavy spotting I wanted removed hadn't been, there were fresh dark green scratches on some of the posters that hadn't been there when I sent them to him. In his initial emails he had consistently mentioned how he would touch up ripped fold lines etc however NONE of this was done. They were simply glued down to the linen and yet each half of the paper wasn't lined up properly: a five year old knows how to connect-the dots, but not the workers from Studio M Vintage Posters. On one poster he removed some of the spotting but just left bleached holes even more obvious than the original spots. No airbrushing touch ups were applied to any of the posters as he promised.

The first red flag was raised when the final cost came to several hundred dollars cheaper than the amount he had first quoted. I was surprised considering he had mentioned that the final tally was usually much higher than the quote. I think he felt the work needed was beyond him even though there was very little restoration needed and any touch-ups would have been straighforward, but he could not even manage that. Perhaps he was overwhelmed, perhaps he was tired. perhaps he was mentally ill, or perhaps the most logical explanation: he has no talent.

Contacting him was fruitless. After he had my money his emails became one sentence single syllables. He would not address my concerns about the restoration even though my emails were always polite. My last several emails have gone unanswered. I paid him over a thousand dollars for restoration but in my estimation he spent no more than ten minutes on the posters and yet he charged me for hours and hours of work. I have no idea if he treats all his clients this way. I think he had the impression I was a newbie poster collector and he could take advantage of me. It says much about his moral compass if that is the case. I have showed his so called "restoration" to several collectors and dealers. They all agree that his shoddy work has devalued my posters. A few believe he may have let a student experiment on my posters for school. They all agree the owner of Studo M Vintage posters took advantage of me. I've since discovered Studio M Vintage posters has destroyed many customers' posters and that I was lucky: Studio M Vintage Posters has made a habit of burning, ripping or even losing items. I wish that had happened to mine.

My advice? Send your posters to America to get restored. It will take alot less time and money in the long run. Please don't use Studio M Vintage Posters. Even though the posters I sent him were worth well over $6,000 they obviously didn't impress him enough to put some effort into the restoration; although he was eager enough to take my money.

He knows I am in another state and thinks there is nothing I can do about it. If only he knew I have just begun....

Damages posters, charges for work not done, takes money then refuses to answer emails.