The Formaet® Clip System: protecting the canvas, redefining how it is held

At the core of the Formaet® Stretcher Canvas Frame lies one of its most important patented innovations: the clip system, designed to replace traditional staples and fundamentally improve how canvas is stretched, secured, and preserved.

For centuries, artists have used metal staples or nails to fix canvas onto wooden stretcher frames. While effective, this method has a clear drawback: it pierces the canvas and permanently damages both the fabric and, over time, the frame itself. This limits reuse, reduces material integrity, and contributes to unnecessary waste.

Formaet® was designed to change this.

A system built to protect, not damage

The Formaet® Clip System introduces a new approach: securing the canvas without puncturing it and without damaging the frame. Instead of forceful stapling, the system uses precision-engineered clips that hold the canvas through controlled pressure and structural grip.

The result is twofold:

• The canvas remains intact, without holes or structural damage
• The stretcher frame remains reusable indefinitely, without degradation

This transforms the stretcher frame from a disposable structure into a long-term modular system.

Four clips, designed for different materials

The system is composed of four types of Clips, each adapted to specific canvas materials and weights:

• Clip 1 is designed for raw linen and transparent primed linen, ensuring a precise and gentle grip for delicate and thin surfaces.
• Clip 2 works with primed cotton and primed linen, balancing tension and stability for pre-treated and thicker canvases.
• Clip 3 and Clip 4 are designed for heavier, high-grammage fabrics, providing stronger structural support.

Each clip integrates seamlessly into the Formaet® frame, distributing tension evenly across the canvas while maintaining material integrity.

Hook Clips: extending the system to display

In addition to the Clips, Formaet® introduces Hook Clips, designed for hanging artworks directly on the wall. They extend the same modular logic from creation to exhibition, allowing the system to function across the full lifecycle of the artwork.

A circular approach to artistic infrastructure

All Formaet® clips are made from ocean-bound recycled plastic, reinforcing a circular production model where material recovery and design innovation work together.

By eliminating canvas puncturing and preventing structural damage to both canvas and frame, the Formaet® Clip System enables true reusability. The stretcher frame becomes not a consumable object, but a long-lasting, adaptable structure.

Formaet® is not just improving how canvases are stretched. It is redefining what a canvas frame can be: protective, reusable, and designed for continuity.

From ocean waste to creative structure: how Formaet® Stretcher Canvas Frames are made

At Formaet®, sustainability is not a concept added at the end of the design process. It is the starting point of everything we build.

Our Stretcher Canvas Frame is made from 100% ocean-bound recycled plastics, transforming waste that threatens marine ecosystems into a new material designed for creative production.

The process begins far from the studio, in coastal and marine environments where plastic pollution accumulates and endangers ocean life. Specialized recovery teams—often working alongside fishing communities—collect this plastic directly from the sea or from areas at high risk of entering the ocean.

Once recovered, the plastic is carefully sorted, cleaned, and treated through a recycling process that transforms it into high-quality, usable raw material. This material is then processed into recycled plastic suitable for industrial applications, giving it a second life far removed from its original environmental impact.

From this regenerated material, Formaet® develops its patented modular Stretcher Canvas Frame system.

Rather than relying on traditional virgin materials, we work with ocean-bound recycled plastics to create a structural system that is both durable and adaptable. The result is a new generation of canvas frame infrastructure designed not only for performance, but for circularity.

Each frame becomes part of a larger ecosystem: one that connects environmental recovery, material innovation, and artistic creation.

By integrating ocean plastic into our product system, we aim to contribute to a model where waste is no longer the end of a lifecycle, but the beginning of a new one.

Formaet® is built on this principle: transforming environmental responsibility into functional design, and redefining how creative tools are conceived, manufactured, and used.

This is not just about materials. It is about changing the system behind the tools artists use every day.

Why haven’t art tools evolved in decades?

The stretcher canvas frame—arguably one of the most essential tools in painting—has remained fundamentally unchanged for centuries.

Since the early development of oil painting on canvas in the 15th century, artists have relied on a wooden stretcher frame to tension and support the canvas surface. Over time, the system was refined in terms of joinery, tensioning keys, and standard sizing, but the core principle has stayed exactly the same: a fixed wooden structure that holds fabric under tension.

Today, whether in traditional studios or contemporary art practices, the same logic still applies. A rectangular wooden frame, cross bracing for stability, and mechanical tensioning through wedges or keys. Materials may vary slightly—pine, hardwoods, engineered wood—but the system itself has barely evolved in its essence.

This raises an important question: why has one of the most fundamental tools in art remained almost untouched since the 15th century?

At Formaet®, we started from this question.

We are building the first meaningful evolution of the stretcher canvas system in centuries: a patented modular system designed specifically for artists’ real creative workflows. Not an iteration of the old model, but a complete rethinking of how canvas structures can adapt, expand, and evolve over time.

Our system replaces rigidity with modularity. Fixed dimensions with scalability. Waste with circular design.

Made from ocean-bound recycled plastic, Formaet® is designed to respond to the needs of contemporary artists: flexibility, sustainability, and creative freedom without constraints.

This is not just a product innovation. It is a shift in how we understand the infrastructure of art itself.

Formaet® Selected for the Premi Impulsa Cultura 2026 by Fundació Catalunya Cultura

Recognizing innovative cultural projects driving sustainability, creativity, and impact in Catalonia’s creative industries.

We are proud to announce that Formaet® has been selected for the Programa IMPULSA CULTURA 2026 by Fundació Catalunya Cultura and is a finalist for the Premi IMPULSA CULTURA.

This recognition is especially meaningful for us, as it comes from one of the most relevant initiatives supporting cultural and creative innovation in Catalonia. The Impulsa Cultura program identifies and accompanies projects that are not only artistically relevant, but also have the potential to generate real impact through innovation, sustainability, and long-term vision.

Being part of this program means entering a space where culture, entrepreneurship, and social impact meet. It is a platform that connects emerging projects with mentors, experts, and institutions that are actively shaping the future of the cultural and creative industries.

For Formaet®, this milestone represents another step forward in a journey that began with a simple but ambitious question: how can we rethink one of the most traditional tools in art and turn it into something more adaptable, sustainable, and aligned with the needs of contemporary creators?

From that question, we developed Formaet®—a patented modular stretcher frame system made from ocean-bound recycled plastic. A system designed to replace rigidity with flexibility, linear production with circular design, and fixed structures with expandable creative possibilities.

Our goal is not only to innovate in materials or design, but to rethink the infrastructure behind artistic creation itself. To build tools that respond to how artists actually work today, while reducing environmental impact and opening new possibilities for expression.

Being selected for Impulsa Cultura is both an acknowledgment of our vision and a reminder of the responsibility we carry: to continue developing solutions that sit at the intersection of art, design, and sustainability.

We are deeply grateful to Fundació Catalunya Cultura for supporting projects that aim to transform the cultural sector from within, and for believing in the potential of new systems that challenge the status quo.

This is just the beginning of a much longer journey.

Formaet® Attends 4YFN at MWC

Innovation and Sustainability in the Service of Art

Thanks to StartUB, the Formaet® team had the privilege of attending 4YFN at MWC, showcasing the world’s first sustainable, limitless stretcher canvas frame made 100% from recycled ocean plastic.

Our patented modular system attracted significant interest and opened the door to strategic partnerships that will strengthen our growth while expanding Formaet®’s impact on sustainability and creative innovation.

A Paradigm Shift in Artistic Production

Formaet® goes beyond traditional artistic frame manufacturing by proposing a paradigm shift: replacing conventional wood with high-performance ocean-bound recycled plastic, reducing environmental impact improving quality and enhancing creative freedom.

Traditional wooden stretcher frames come with a range of challenges that can hinder creativity, efficiency, and sustainability. Assembling them is often a complex and laborious task, demanding time, physical effort, and specialised tools, which slows down the artistic process. Staples pierce both the canvas and the wood, causing irreversible damage, while the solid wood itself makes the frames heavy and cumbersome to transport, handle, and hang, adding significantly to shipping and logistics costs. Standard sizes limit artistic freedom, and requesting custom-made dimensions usually comes at a premium.

On top of this, shipping often requires the manufacture of custom-made wooden boxes for each artwork, and storing bulky frames can take up valuable studio or gallery space, creating clutter and increasing the risk of damaging artworks.

The Formaet® Solution

Formaet® addresses all of these challenges with an innovative and circular solution. Its patented system allows for assembly in minutes and also enables additional pieces to be added to create the frame the artist desires, with no limitations on shape or size. The patented clip system completely eliminates staples, securing the canvas without causing any damage. By shipping disassembled with the canvas rolled, Formaet® reduces both weight and volume, removes the need for wooden boxes, and significantly lowers logistics costs, making it ideal for online and international sales.

The hollow, high-strength recycled plastic profiles make the frames ultra-light, and the modular design allows components to be stacked and stored efficiently, optimising studio space and protecting artworks. Our patented modular system is unique on the market, allowing pieces to be exchanged and sizes adjusted without the need to purchase a new frame. Using recycled ocean plastic also makes the frames more resistant to humidity and warping compared to traditional wooden frames. Formaet® demonstrates a genuine commitment to sustainability and innovation, avoiding greenwashing, and is designed from the artist’s perspective, fully understanding their needs and workflow.

Formaet® is also suitable for children, students, schools, and universities, broadening its educational and creative reach. It will soon be available through various marketplaces and art supply stores.

Don’t miss out, sign up now to get first access to our launch units.

Limitless: Formaet® The Canvas Frame with Infinite Possibilities

The Future of Art is Limitless with Formaet®

Formaet® emerges at the intersection of art, design, and sustainable innovation. The brand represents a new way of thinking about artistic materials: not as mere supports, but as active tools for creative expression and environmental responsibility.

A pioneer in modular canvas frames made from recycled ocean plastic, Formaet® has developed, through patented technology and innovative design, a system that allows artists to construct limitless work surfaces, adapting dynamically to their creative process. Every piece of the Formaet® system is fully interchangeable, meaning any module, regardless of size or variant, can connect with any other. This principle of universal compatibility transforms the Formaet® canvas frame into a truly infinite structure: it can grow, reshape, fold, or expand without limits.

With Formaet®, the canvas frame ceases to be a rigid support and becomes an extension of the creative process, where each artist can experiment, expand, and transform their work without limitations.

The First Sustainable Modular Canvas Frame

Formaet® is a system of modular canvas frames made from recycled ocean plastic, combining innovation, sustainability, and versatility. Each piece, regardless of size or model, connects through a patented standard joint, allowing the creation of frames of any shape or dimension. This modularity is not merely technical. It transforms the way artists interact with their work, integrating the canvas frame into the creative process rather than treating it solely as a support.

Total Interchangeability: A Limitless Canvas Frame

The most innovative feature of Formaet® is its universal interchangeability. This allows artists to create a limitless canvas frame that grows with the artwork. Artists can start with a small format and gradually expand it, without replacing the entire frame, simply by adding new modular pieces.

This concept breaks the traditional limitations of canvas frames, giving creators full control and enabling the work to evolve organically.

Multiple formats with just one system

Formaet® is conceived as a complete creative tool, not just a support. It provides freedom for artists to work in multiple formats from a single system, the possibility to expand artworks through modular extensions, and the adaptability needed for contemporary creative processes, installations, and large-format projects. At the same time, the aesthetic design aligns with contemporary art and emerging visual languages, allowing the canvas frame to adapt to the artwork rather than constraining it. Formaet® empowers creators to break free from rigid formats and explore new forms of expression while maintaining technical reliability and professional standards.

Modular Packs for Complete Customisation

To facilitate personalisation, Formaet® is sold in packs of pieces rather than fixed-measure kits. Artists can select the pieces they need to build their own format, much like choosing ingredients for a creative recipe. This approach encourages freedom, experimentation, and repeat engagement, as each artwork invites rearrangement or expansion.

Formaet® is, in essence, a canvas frame that evolves with the artist: a living, versatile tool intimately connected to the future of sustainable art.

Flexible Geometry: Beyond the Traditional Canvas

The modularity of Formaet® enables the frame’s geometry to be altered, offering unprecedented possibilities for contemporary art. With creative variants, frames can become polygons, articulated structures, irregular surfaces, or three-dimensional compositions. Formaet® goes beyond traditional painting, integrating the canvas frame into expanded art, installations, and large-scale projects, opening new opportunities to experiment with space, scale, and visual narrative.

Limitless Possibilities with an affordable price

With Formaet®, every canvas frame is limitless: designed to grow, transform, and adapt. Its patented connectors, modular components, and sustainable materials make it a unique tool for modern artists who demand flexibility, durability, and environmental responsibility. Formaet® reimagines the canvas frame as a living, evolving surface, empowering creativity without boundaries while embedding sustainability at the core of its design. It is the future of professional art support, where innovation meets ecological awareness, and where the artist’s vision defines the form, not the other way around.