Every great story begins with an intriguing narrative, and the story of “Once Upon a Frame” is no exception. Founded by the dynamic duo Yael and Jimmy, this remarkable business is dedicated to the fine art of framing, establishing a unique niche in a landscape where custom frame shops are becoming increasingly rare. “Once Upon a Frame” sets itself apart by offering an impressive selection of framing materials, including antique reclaimed metal, 24-karat gold leaf, intricately carved wood, and distinctive frosted thick acrylic. They excel at revitalizing antique frames, giving them a modern twist that beautifully complements contemporary artworks. Their designs extend beyond conventional framing, creating a truly immersive experience. 

With a team well-versed in the realms of art, framing, and preservation, clients can expect expert guidance that marries artistic vision with years of global inspiration. This results in stunning frames that both delight and satisfy. The knowledgeable staff are adept at helping clients make informed decisions rooted in high artistic standards, drawing on their diverse influences to create profound frames and happier clients. 

SOLANA BEACH DESIGN DISTRICT: 132 N. Cedros, Solana Beach, CA 

Situated at the northern edge of the celebrated Cedros Design District in Solana Beach, California, Once Upon a Frame (OUAF) thrives within its vibrant surroundings. The Cedros Design District has transformed since the 1990s from a tranquil coastal area into a bustling hub of creativity and commerce. Known for its independent boutiques, art galleries, and design studios, the district attracts both locals and visitors. It serves not only as a shopping destination but also as a community gathering place, hosting events such as the Cedros Avenue Farmers Market, where local vendors showcase fresh produce and artisanal goods. 

 PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE  

Upon stepping into the OUAF studio, customers are greeted by a dedicated team passionate about the art of framing. Yael, one of the co-owners, personally engages with each visitor, carefully examining their artwork. With her discerning artist’s eye, she guides clients in narrating their artwork’s story through an interplay of color, texture, and composition. This personalized approach ensures every customer receives thoughtful insights on how to best highlight their treasured pieces. 

 Visiting Once Upon a Frame is more than just a transaction; clients often leave with a richer understanding of framing history and techniques, inspired by the creative energy that permeates the space. Whether framing personal art or exploring local talent, customers are bound to be enriched by the narratives and creativity on display. 

 In a market flooded with mass-produced items, Once Upon a Frame champions the uniqueness of individual expression—both in artwork and the frames that showcase it. If there were a reality show centered on framing, this shop would undoubtedly be a standout, brimming with endless stories and a vibrant culture worth discovering. 

 Custom framing demands a blend of expertise, creativity, and sensitivity to client needs. The essence lies in achieving perfect proportions while remaining flexible enough to innovate and refine designs into truly spectacular results. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRAMING  

Artwork frames are much more than borders for paintings and photographs; they play a                significant role in appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of art.  The following are some reasons why artwork frames are “critical for humanity”. 

Protection and Preservation: Frames provide physical protection for artwork from environmental factors such as dust, moisture, and light.  This is crucial for preserving the integrity of the piece over time, allowing future generations to appreciate it. 

Context and Presentation: A well-chosen frame complements the artwork, enhancing its aesthetic appeal and guiding the viewer’s focus.  

Cultural Significance: The style of framing can denote cultural traditions and historic periods, contributing to our understanding of different artistic movements. 

Value and Market Consideration: Frames can affect the perceived value of a piece.  An inappropriate or damaged frame may detract from the artwork’s worth, while a high-quality, well-matched frame may enhance its value. 

OUAF SUPPORTING LOCAL ARTISTS  

Beyond serving individual clients, Yael and Jimmy are dedicated to nurturing the local arts community. They have recently transformed part of their shop into a dedicated gallery space, offering local artists a platform to display their work and host receptions. This initiative has successfully attracted a diverse array of talents, with several artists already scheduled to exhibit through the end of the year. 

Once Upon a Frame is more than just a framing shop; it’s a thriving community hub that celebrates artistry, individuality, and local talent. 

PAST EXHIBITIONS FOR ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE: 

 The gallery has showcased numerous artists in the past, including: 

“Through Shadows” by Todd Carpenter 

“She Portal” by Julia C R Gray and Sienna Browne

“The Secret Language of Flowers” by Anne Phillips 

“Interpretations of Things” by Corbin Braciszewski 

“The Human Experience” by Francois Michel Beausoleil 

Including other artists:  Rin Colabucci, Dagmar Galleithner-Steiner, Lisa Miller, Brady Willmott, and Kate Joiner

For more information about Once Upon A Frame: www.onceuponaframe.com 

IG: Once Upon A Frame 

______________________ 

Author’s Bio: 

After receiving a degree in design, Sherri worked for brands in apparel and consumer goods for several years. She enjoyed this profession and was fortunate enough to sell her own brand to major stores. She cherished the experience of meeting various artisans around the world as she traveled for work to produce products. A year ago, she made a career pivot and embarked on an exciting artistic adventure.  This adventure has led her to create artwork for several gallery exhibits, permanent public art installations, graphics for a music festival, and a special art project for a new fire station. She feels very fortunate to be in the arts and is working on giving back. She has written grants that have funded art festivals, serves as gallery board member, and writes articles to support the arts. 

Please visit her website and Instagram to view artwork at www.sherriscottstudios.com   

IG: Sherri Scott Studios 

All images courtesy of Once Upon A Frame. 

The post Once Upon a Frame: A Unique Vision in Custom Framing appeared first on Art Business News.

In the past decade, the art and framing industry has faced a number of significant challenges. It has experienced the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the crash of the housing market, and the proliferation of big-box craft stores.

All of these factors have affected the sales and profitability of small independent frame shops and galleries. Yet, through ingenuity and perseverance, they’ve managed to survive, and art and framing sales are now experiencing a resurgence in sales. This situation is especially true for independent framers, who are starting to gain market share as more and more consumers recognize that 70 percent off a grossly inflated price is not such a great deal for a frame design showing a lack of professional design skills.

Just as handing someone a paint set doesn’t make them an artist, giving someone a title and showing them how to use a cash register doesn’t suddenly endow them with the skills they need to be a professional frame designer. It’s taken years, but consumers have finally begun to recognize that the real value of custom framing is in the enduring beauty of the results, not in the inexpensive frames they see in newspaper ads. The industry today is smarter, bolder, and more profitable than it has been at any other time in the past decade. However, despite this increase in prosperity, framers have yet to overcome one obstacle: the widespread, misguided, and illogical placement of flat-screen televisions on walls, instead of in entertainment centers or on furniture. This trend in consumer behavior has caused the framing market to shrink, robbed it of millions of sales opportunities, and generated a tremendous amount of human pain and suffering.

Despite its widespread and devastating consequences to art and framing merchants and to consumers, the problem has gone mostly unnoticed and almost completely ignored, and it has grown to pandemic proportions. And it’s got me hoppin’ mad.

Flat screens have taken over valuable vertical real estate that was once the domain of artists, photographers, and framers. Paintings, prints, photographs, needlework, and lots of frames—your frames and my frames—belong on walls. What does not belong on walls are rectangular black holes of nothingness.

And it’s all the Jetsons’ fault—George, Jane, Judy, and even little Elroy. They started it. They were the first perpetrators of this mess. They’re the ones who made us yearn for the advent of wall-mounted TVs. And now we’ve got ’em. But the Jetsons were wrong.

TVs do not belong on walls. They surely don’t belong in the corner near a ceiling. And they have absolutely no business being mounted above a fireplace. Just because your customers can mount their Samsungs and Vizios on their walls doesn’t mean they should. In fact, mounting a TV on a wall isn’t just a bad idea from the perspective of a custom framer, it’s also a bad idea for your health.

Historically, as you may recall, people placed TVs at eye level. Because most people watch television from a seated position, TVs were once much closer to the floor. This placement provided a viewing experience similar to what one enjoys when sitting in the center of a movie theater.

Earlier generations of TVs were in their own cabinets or consoles; placed on stands; or tucked into entertainment centers, which have doors to hide the rectangular black hole when it is not in use. Today’s TVs are much lighter and flatter than those of yesteryear. They rarely exceed a thickness of more than 5 to 6 inches, making wall mounting possible.

But almost every wall-mounted TV is positioned much higher on the wall than is optimal for comfortable viewing from a sofa or an easy chair. These viewing angles can produce stiff necks, sore shoulders, and aching backs. If you don’t believe it, ask a chiropractor. Most will tell you that wallmounted TVs are great for their business.

Any adult who has ever had the unfortunate experience of sitting in the first few rows of a movie theater should know better than to mount a TV so high up on a wall. Sure, it was cool to sit in the front row of the theater when you were 10 years old, but no adult ever willingly sits that close to the screen. Long before the movie is over, your neck is certain to feel like a PEZ dispenser locked in the tilted-back position.

Wall-mounted TVs rob custom framers of potential sales, and they need to do something about it. They need to take back what belongs to them.

Unfortunately, this trend is not likely to go away anytime soon, and there’s little framers can do about it. However, you might consider educating your customers by providing literature about the potential health problems—and letting them know why they don’t want to emulate the Jetsons.

The post Why I Hate George Jetson | The Guerrilla Framer appeared first on Art Business News.

Marketing framing services through daily-deal companies is not for every business, but for those that are thinking about giving it a try, here are a few suggestions. Over the last several years, my shops have used daily-deal marketing to great advantage, and the following list contains some of my company’s success strategies.

Daily-deal websites include Groupon, Amazon Local, and Living Social. These companies promote special discount deals; sell vouchers to their customers; and pay them for the sales, minus commissions and fees. New customers then bring these vouchers to your company. The daily-deal websites collect no money from you upfront. They get paid only if the offer to your customers is successful; if they don’t sell a deal, you pay nothing.

Here are five more things to keep in mind when you first try out a daily deal.

1. BE AWARE OF THE TYPES OF CUSTOMER A DAILY DEAL ATTRACTS
You will attract a few people who want something for nothing. One of the great advantages of these programs is that if customers are unsatisfied with your offer, they can easily return their voucher for a refund. This approach keeps you from getting negative online reviews. Most customers, however, understand what they are buying and are just looking for an incentive to spend money in your shop.

2. KNOW YOUR PRICING
Get a good idea of how much your average customer spends per order. Make sure that the total value of the deal you are making is well below that average. This tactic ensures that the 50-percent-off deal that the daily-deal site presents costs you only about 20 to 25 percent on average. Potential customers don’t see this approach as a trick.
They generally understand that framing is far more expensive than the amount that the deal offers. If they do not
understand this concept and feel that you are overcharging them, suggest that they return the voucher for a refund.
This approach will generally defuse a potentially tense situation and prevent any bad online reviews.

3. CAREFULLY WORD YOUR DEAL
Do not in any way imply that the amount offered will cover an entire framing order unless you are offering a package deal. Offers generally set certain limits, such as “$50 for $100 toward custom framing.” Also be sure to include important specifications, such as “limit: one voucher per frame,” “limit: three vouchers per customer,” and “voucher must be used in its entirety; there will be no refund or credit issued for unused amounts.”

4. GET AS MUCH INFORMATION FROM YOUR NEW CUSTOMER AS POSSIBLE
When customers redeem their vouchers, make sure to get their contact information, especially their email addresses.
Email is a preferred and effective method for these customers to receive future offers from you. Second, most of the
daily-deal sites do not make a repeat offer to the same customer from the same merchant, so it is up to you to bring
that customer back into the shop. Finally, email is the easiest and cheapest way to keep in contact with your customer base.

5. KNOW WHETHER DAILY DEALS ARE NOT FOR YOU
Daily deals may not be the type of marketing that will work with your business model. If your shop cuts margins close so that you can offer your customers the best possible price, you have no room for an advertising budget.
Therefore, this approach is not for you. However, when you use them properly,daily-deal sites can help bring new
customers into your shop. So, if you’re looking for a new marketing strategy, come up with a plan that makes sense for your business and give it a try.

With three Framing Palace locations in Maryland, Ed Gowda has specialized in custom framing for over 25 years. One of his passions is to share information and ideas within the industry. framingpalace.com

The post 5 Tips for Marketing Through Daily-Deal Websites appeared first on Art Business News.

In many renovations, framed art is often at the bottom of the design budget. A designer asks that a client purchase the key elements first: flooring, furniture, rugs, window dressing, and decorative mouldings for the walls. These big-ticket items anchor the design aspects of the room and constitute the basis for all future metamorphoses of the room.

Most prevalent design strategies propose that these investment pieces be of good quality and as design-neutral as possible. The items that comprise the trendy and fashionable aspect of the design plan are usually cheaper and deliberately interchangeable for seasonal variety.

This situation puts custom framing in an awkward middle position, as it is neither cheap nor interchangeable. Properly custom-framed art is expensive and aligns more closely with furniture than with pillows, throws, and other accessories. Framed art that is cheap, interchangeable, and ready-made, on the other hand, requires frequent replacement due to its poor construction and general absence of real artistic value. Yet the framer still must often handle the tail end of dwindling resources for customers who show them paint chips and carpet swatches and expect things to match.

When you face this situation, all you can do is take a deep breath and dive in.
As with most other situations, preparation is key. After bellying up to your counter, what the customer sees first are your frame samples. I like to arrange mine according to finish and size. My customers don’t know or care what company supplied them, so arranging them by supplier would be unnecessarily confusing. By keeping all my similarly colored frame samples together, I ensure that my customers can see at a glance what kind of selection I offer.

I cannot overstate how necessary it is to have the right samples on display. You must have samples that reflect current styles and trends—not because you want to create trendy and fashionable framed art, but because you want to represent yourself as knowledgeable of current design trends and as a credible source of design advice.

People’s tastes change. Recently, there has been a noticeable movement toward a simpler design aesthetic. Empty-nesters are getting rid of all their heavy wood “investment” furniture and decorating with an eye for clean lines and simple shapes. Furniture retailers will tell you that white is the most common color choice for leather furniture. You will not sell anything to this customer if all the samples they see when they walk in your store are mahogany or barn-board blue.

Your frame supplier is the best resource for keeping your frame samples current. Your sales rep shows you carefully considered frame samples that coordinate with what your customers have seen in interior-design magazines. Keep an open mind when viewing samples from a frame supplier—don’t assume that your customer won’t like what you don’t like. When I was a sales rep and first went out to galleries showing them a new line of brightly colored lacquer frames, most framers were visibly repulsed. Those sweet little frames brought up all kinds of unpleasant memories of bad lacquers gone by. The framers brave enough to put those samples out were thoroughly surprised to find that their customers did not share their feelings. Clients were more than ready for some color and shine in their framing projects. Sales were so good that some colors ended up on backorder due to the unexpectedly rapid depletion of stock.

Pay attention to what your customers are asking for. Customers were asking me for wenge frames long before I carried anything with a wenge veneer. They were asking for white gallery frames long before I had the right matte white and tall stem shape that such frames required. They were asking for floater frames before I even knew what a floater frame was. We framers get caught up in the day-to-day operation of our businesses and our busy lives, and we can lose track of the dynamic nature of our customers’ desires. But this changing nature is the lifeblood of our business, so you must change along with it.

Properly implemented custom framing is a craft. It has all the attributes of fine furniture, and, like fine furniture, it is expensive. Education is the only approach to customers’ resistance to your price point. Be knowledgeable about your product and be willing to share that information. People pay more when they understand what they are purchasing. Fine Italian wood veneers look different from foils. Real metallic leafing looks different from a metallic spray finish. Acid-free mats won’t fade and discolor as paper mats will. I don’t offer paper mats, and I don’t use any materials in my gallery that are substandard, because I know that the product my gallery produces is my representation in the world. It is the best advertising I will ever do, and it has to show the quality and design expertise that my clients have every right to expect.

Do not hesitate to charge properly for your work. If you are proud of your work, you should be paid accordingly. There will always be someone willing to do it for less, but do not let that fact affect you. Good customer service and a superior product always win in the end. Great design is priceless.

People are obsessed with trends and all things trending in popular culture. The trends are unavoidable and, if you keep them in mind as reference points, rather than the full objective, they are useful tools.

For example, I have recently noticed the re-emergence of gold in interior-design compilations. It is the brassy, true-to-life gold that hasn’t been in the hardware palette in a long time. For as long as I can remember, silver has been the metallic finish of choice. The trend started with bright silver leaf, which slowly shifted into nickel and then into darker silvers with patinated finishes. Gold was the color of “Grandma’s framing,” and designers and their clients avoided it like the plague. The new gold is modern, sharply angular, narrow, and delicately textured. It will be a slow process, but be warned: Gold is coming back.

The espresso wood trend is sticking around due to its total domination of the furniture world. Because people have invested so much money in espresso-finished flooring, furniture, and cabinetry, I don’t expect the trend to disappear for a long time. There has been a lot more conversation about color forecasting and Pantone’s Color of the Year in the media this year than I remember from years past. I find that, for me, this forecast is of personal interest but of limited use in my framing projects. A change from Radiant Orchid to Marsala in the color schemes of mass-market production will never influence the directions I give my customers concerning frames and mats.

When customers come in for the final finishing touches on their newly renovated space, be confident and ready. With preparation and design savvy, you will have exactly the right tools to ensure that those last pieces of their design puzzle will be exactly what they need to finish the project off with style.

The post Finishing with Style appeared first on Art Business News.

DECOR: Redwood Media Group has a storied history with iconic art shows, such as Artexpo New York and [SOLO], along with exciting new shows, such as SPECTRUM Miami and Art San Diego. What made you decide to get into the framing expo business?

Eric Smith: Opportunity and history. Art and framing have always gone hand in hand, and it’s a natural fit for our business. I’m also very familiar with the framing market: From 2000 to 2008, I was vice president of Summit Business Media, and I ran DECOR Expo until we sold it in 2008. At that point, it went to another company, and I didn’t really hear much about it. But in its heyday, DECOR was huge! It was a mainstay in the framing industry, and everyone, including me, had really fond memories of the show.

So naturally, when in late 2012 I received a call from a business associate who asked me if I was interested in purchasing the DECOR properties—which included Art Business News, DECOR, DECOR Expo Atlanta and DECOR Expo New York—I couldn’t resist. I really missed the show. And now that my company, Redwood Media, is in a growth phase, I see no better time. The first step was launching DECOR Expo Showcase in New York this spring, alongside Artexpo New York and [SOLO]. That was a big success. We’re looking forward to bringing the showcase back to Pier 94 next spring and then launching the all-new DECOR Expo Atlanta in the fall.

DECOR: Why do you think the original DECOR Expo Atlanta tapered off?

ES: It’s important to realize that, from 2009 to 2012, it was under entirely different ownership. I’m not actually 100 percent sure the owners even produced the show, although they owned the name. I believe that group went on to other businesses in the end. Since Redwood Media Group acquired the show, we’ve been sort of incubating ideas around it for the past year or two. We believe in the slow-but-steady approach, just like we’ve taken with all our other shows: We’ve more than doubled the size of our company in the last two years! So, what framers really need to know is that DECOR Expo Atlanta and New York are under completely new management and will give them an exemplary experience.

DECOR: Tell us about that debut of the showcase in New York. How did it go?

ES: It was great. We have a small venue that we allocated for framing exhibitors, and we had about 30 exhibitors right at the front of the hall, so they got excellent traffic. More than 22,000 people go through Artexpo New York each year, and, of those, about 4,000 are trade buyers. So, we made a really big deal about getting the trade in to see the framing products, and our exhibitors were quite happy with that.

On the last day of the show, I did an exit interview and went around shaking people’s hands. Of the 30 exhibitors, 28 said they’d return. Bear in mind: The New York event’s really more of a showcase, not an expo. The full-blown expo we’ll be doing in Atlanta is a much bigger event. We’ll have product demonstrations, extensive education, a larger floor plan, and more exhibitors. At the showcase, it’s more of an add-on to Artexpo, and we’re really just showcasing new products. That said, it could grow into a full-blown show someday. If we could double the size next year, we think that would be great.

DECOR: You launched DECOR at the showcase this spring in New York. What’s your vision for the publication?

ES: Well, as I mentioned earlier, Redwood Media Group acquired DECOR, DECOR Expo, and Art Business News all together in late 2012. Our first initiative was to get Art Business News back in the market because it fits so well with the four art shows we’re already producing: Artexpo New York, [SOLO], SPECTRUM Miami and Art San Diego. Once we got that back into publication, we added a decor/framing component to it via our DECOR section, which readers seem to be enjoying.

We have excellent resources and writers within the framing industry—our show director and publisher Michael Pacitti, “the Guerrilla Framer” Paul Cascio, Tara Crichton; the list goes on and on. And, of course, we’re always on the lookout for more writers and more intriguing content, and we encourage interested parties to contact us. To date, we’ve been pleased to feature some really exciting profiles on industry players, like Roma Moulding and Urban Ashes. It’s an industry that keeps reinventing itself, and it’s exciting to play a part in documenting that.

Over the last 90 days, we’ve attracted over 300 subscribers to the new DECOR. If that continues, we’ll have 1,400 to 1,500 brand-new subscribers to the magazine in the next year to add to our list of 4,000. This all circles back to the shows: One reason exhibitors exhibit at shows is to meet new customers and peers, so we’re going to invite all of our subscribers to the expos. We want to make it easy for framers throughout the continent to network and connect.

DECOR: What new initiatives do you have for the new DECOR Expo Atlanta?

ES: For starters, we’ve got an all-new venue. We’re not going back to the Georgia World Congress Center, where the show was usually held. We’ve decided to take a three-year growth approach, building year upon year, and hold it at the Marriott in downtown Atlanta. It creates a beehive of buying and networking. Everybody will stay in the hotel, eat in the hotel, drink at the bars and enjoy an excellent, three-day framing expo in the ballroom.

We’re also planning a really compelling front-of-the-shop educational series, which will be free for all attendees. We’re going to have cutting-edge product demonstrations on the show floor. And we are going to revive our extremely popular DECOR Expo Top 100 Art and Framing Retailer Program. We’re going to throw a big party during the show and honor these hardworking framers and also give them exposure in DECOR magazine. There will be other surprises mixed in to make things exciting, interesting and fun for participants. It’s going to be a very exciting event, and we hope framers from across North America will join us.

DECOR: What do you hope exhibitors and attendees will take away from these two new framing expos?

ES: For attendees, seeing new products, sharpening their skills … and, hopefully, they’ll take home a Top 100 Retailer Award. For the exhibitors, they’ll meet lots of attendees they don’t see at the West Coast show. There are a lot of framers in the South and Southeast—and, for that matter, the Northeast—we’ve made contacts with over the past year, and everyone has been telling us they miss DECOR Expo Atlanta.
As art-industry veterans, we try to stay on the forefront of all the latest advancements in the world of artists, galleries and frame shops, and we have a lot to offer framers in that regard. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back to DECOR Expo Atlanta next fall.

Christine Schrum is editor-in-chief of DECOR magazine. She has extensive experience in the fine-art industry, particularly in art-show marketing and production, social media, blogging and magazine writing. She is currently director of content and social media for Redwood Media Group, purveyor of fine-art shows and publications.

The post DECOR Expo Atlanta: A Design-World Mainstay Returns to Atlanta appeared first on Art Business News.

The start of a new year always brings the opportunity for introspection and review. Beyond the regular New Year goals of extra exercise and better eating—which are rapidly abandoned due to the lack of excitement inherent in extra carrots and reps of burpees—there is real value in looking at your business and trying to see how you can keep your service relevant and attractive to your customers.

There has been a radical change to the art gallery and picture framing business over the last 15-20 years. The purchasing patterns and expectations of the modern consumer make it a completely different animal. If you have been conducting business over this time frame this is not news to you. First there were entire television networks dedicated to showing the average homeowner how completely unnecessary it was to hire skilled tradespeople. Why pay all that extra money when you can do it yourself?

DIY—A Detriment to Custom Framing?
Interior decorators show people how to buy IKEA frames, pull out the glue gun and assemble their
own art for a fraction of the cost. Decorating magazines reiterate the same monotonous litany and display most of the art in their interiors without any framing at all. Canvas art gets hung raw and naked with all its edges on display. Interior design media encouraged an attitude less concerned with how beautifully art could be displayed on a wall. All that mattered was getting it up in the most economical manner possible.

I worked for years in a “do it yourself” frameshop. The owner, we’ll call him “Jim,” was a completely charming alcoholic who took great pride in the fact that he had spent most of his adult life “putting four pieces of wood together.” The fact is that the frame assembly is the least of what a picture framer does. I remember Jim with a great deal of fondness—and a lot of head-shaking! I will continue to write about Jim whenever I need an example of what not to do.

I and my fellow coworkers would often come into the shop in the morning to find posters covered in bloody fingerprints because Jim had handled art unaware that he’d cut himself on the edge of a piece of glass or given himself a paper cut on some cardboard backing. We all got really good at fixing
things with hydrogen peroxide!

Customer Education is Everything
A good picture framer, like a doctor, should have the ultimate goal of doing no harm. That makes a good picture framer into a conservator. Knowing what NOT to do is every bit as important as knowing what to do. For example, as an industry, we are fully aware of the importance of acid-free materials as a protective agent for artwork. If we are to expect our customers to pay the additional cost for these premium materials, we need to explain their value.

Acid-free protection is a necessary step in the picture-framing process. If it’s done right you will only have to do it once. Acid-free mats and backing, UV glass, museum glass, proper hinging, spacers…whether hidden or obvious to the naked eye, once conservation materials are explained, they reinforce your role as trusted advisor and caretaker.

Beware the Glue Gun!
When working with valuable artwork it is very important not to do anything that can’t be undone without destroying the art’s value. The customer needs to know why the glue gun is not their friend. The “just get it up on the wall” market has been cornered by the big box store. They are experts in turning interior design into disposable fashion. The trend that started out as a beautiful African brown/black hardwood veneer called “wenge” has been degraded and polystyrene-ed into everything under the sun and labelled “espresso finish” (aka brown, ugh).

This is the new reality in the interior design industry. It seems less important where a trend starts than how to cheapen and replicate it until whatever made it beautiful in the first place has been completely obliterated. This is the opposite of finely designed custom framing. With all the design work invested by the better picture frame importers and manufacturers to fabricate elegant profiles and utilize glorious wood veneers, why would you, the professional picture framer, produce work that’s indistinguishable from what can be purchased ready-made?

Unleash Your Inner Avant-Garde Genius
The finishes that are available now—gold or silver leaf, modernized barn board, lacquer, frosted metallic leaf, graphite—are completely overwhelming. The range of frame profile and finishes are virtually limitless. So how do you dive in? Use fine materials, but also utilize them in a way that is visibly superior. The design aspect of this process cannot be overstated. Imagination and vision are key. Stacking frames to create truly custom combinations isn’t a new concept but it’s one that seems to be oddly under-utilized.

Playing with spacers in shadowboxes and between mats to emphasize the perception of depth within the volume of the framing is also not groundbreaking but adds to the design impact of modern art. Use offsetting in your mat proportions to exaggerate the verticality or horizontal sprawl of art that otherwise would have awkward proportions in the awaiting space. Why just use a safe black cube frame when you can use a black frame with a stunning profile, lacquer finish, or super deep rabbit that transforms the safety of black frame/white mat into avant-garde genius?

Yes, it is probably easier to sell predictable, safe framing to your customers. But the extra effort expended to supply creative design options to your customers will be rewarded with a solid loyal customer base who will love to tell their admiring friends where they framed that jaw-droppingly beautiful piece hanging in their front hall.

Allowing yourself to be the expert that your customers can rely on should be your goal. This expertise will be the cornerstone of a thriving, expanding customer base. Know your materials and contribute the design flair that will have your clients leaving your store confident that their hard-earned dollars were well spent. Letting your work express the passion you feel for your craft will be good for you too. It’s a resolution that shouldn’t be too hard to keep.

Tara Crichton has worked in the framing industry for more than 24 years and is a graduate of University of Guelph with a double major in fine arts. She started out working in the framing industry to pay her way through school and never left the industry, for it was her calling. She has worked in every aspect of the industry from retail, to wholesale distribution, OEM and art direction. Tara now owns and operates a gallery just north of Toronto, Canada.

The post Your Number One Resolution for 2014: Embrace Your Inner Designer appeared first on Art Business News.