Decor: Fall 2015 Issue

FALL 2015

Framing Revival

Where We Stand Post-Recession

BY MARC HOPKINS

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Earn a Competitive Edge with One-Day Framing

BY PAUL CASCIO

Polish Your Web Presence

BY LITSA SPANOS

The Quest for Quality

BY TARA CRIGHTON

FALL 2015 decormagazine.com info@decormagazine.com ______ CEO/Publisher: Eric Smith Editor-in-Chief: Megan Kaplon Managing Editor: Linda Mariano Copy Editors: Nina Benjamin, Fran Granville Contributing Editors: Paul Cascio, Tara Crichton, Ed Gowda Art Director: Stacy Dalton Graphic Designer: Lizz Anderson ________ Advertising Rick Barnett Managing Director, Exhibitions & Media Sales rick.barnett@redwoodmg.com 831-747-0112 Ashley Tedesco Director of Media Marketing Sales ashley.tedesco@redwoodmg.com 831-970-5611 Rosana Rader Director of Sales & Exhibitions rosana.rader@redwoodmg.com 831-840-4444 _______ Operations & Finance Geoff Fox geoff.fox@redwoodmg.com ____ Subscriptions Visit decormagazine.com for subscription information. _________ DECOR serves all segments of the art and framing market, including art and framing retailers, picture framers, interior decorators, artists, home-furnishing providers, OEM/volume framers, gift retailers, photo studios, suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers. The magazine features articles and columns from longtime and well-known industry experts and top art and framing retailers.

Team Notes FALL 2015 Each issue, our Team Notes column will offer an inside perspective on art and design, featuring stories and recommendations from members of the RMG team.

This issue, we’re discussing the first piece of art that truly moved us.

“The first time I really fell in love with a piece of artwork was when I saw Monet’s ‘Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies.’ It was the brilliance, subtle texture and technique, and play with color and light—combined with the invitation to step into the painting—that was so magical and engaging. His garden was one of my first stops on my first trip to France!”

— Linda Mariano, Managing Director of Marketing “Michelangelo’s ‘Pietà’ is the most moving work of art I’ve ever seen. The moment I saw it at the Vatican, I was overcome with emotion and admiration. In her utter sadness and devastation, the Virgin Mary seems resigned to what has happened and becomes enveloped in graceful acceptance.

Michelangelo’s talent in carving drapery is matched by his handling of the human forms in the Christ and the Virgin, both of whom retain a sweet tenderness despite the tragic nature of this scene.”

— Ashley Tedesco, Director of Sales Media Marketing “The first time a piece of artwork had a profound impact on me was during a family trip to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis when I was 12. In the middle of one of the galleries was an exhibition installation of Derek Jarman’s film ‘Blue,’ in which he narrated his experience of declining health from AIDS. Devastating yet mesmerizing, the film featured a soundscape of words and music but no visuals beyond an unrelenting blue screen. I was so captivated that I kept dashing back in after perusing other galleries. Even the air was different in there—I could’ve sworn they’d pumped hospital smell into the room to intensify the effect. The experience lingered with me for weeks, and I can recall it clearly even now, two decades later.”

— Nina Benjamin, Content Manager “I began to focus on art at an early age. My grandmother brought artwork from Germany in 1947 after surviving WWII, including a small oil on board of an old village farmer with a pipe. It was more than the image that stood out to me; it was the story that was told by the expression on the farmer’s face. From that point forward, I always looked for the story of the work, which still interests me today as I look at various collections.”

— Rick Barnett, Managing Director Business Development Group D E CO R M AG A Z I N E .CO M

NEWSMAKERS FRAME YOUR PRINTS

Artifact Uprising has been producing high-quality photo books, albums, and prints since its founding in 2012. This season, the company introduces its first framed prints. The company can print and frame your photos and artwork using a classic gallery frame with a ¾-inch moulding or a deepset frame featuring a custom ¾-inch moulding that sits 1 inch from the photo. Framed prints are available in 12 sizes and four finishes, and pricing starts at $89. artifactuprising.com

CHURCH HILL CLASSICS CONTESTS GO VIRAL

Church Hill Classics, a manufacturer of custom diploma frames, conducts contests throughout the year to drive interest in its products and engage its consumer base. The company recently crowned a winner for the “Frame My Proudest Moment Contest 2015.” Entrants submitted photos and short descriptions of their proudest moments, including college and military graduations, athletic victories, weddings, and other achievements. The winner, Ellie Schwetz, sent a photo of herself looking in a mirror after shaving her head to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research; she won the grand prize of $250. diplomaframe.com

BAY AREA FRAME SHOP CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

The Studio Shop, based in Burlingame, California, marks its 100th anniversary this year. Portrait photographer Dorothy Crawford and her engineer and framer husband, Ralph, founded the frame shop and gallery in 1915, and John and Martha Benson purchased it in 1955. John Benson had just left his job as a high school shop teacher and took up framing after buying the Studio Shop.

Today, the couple’s daughters, Janet Martin and Kristen Benson, along with Janet’s husband, Carl, still own and run the shop, which is the oldest retail business in Burlingame. In 2008, the family opened The Studio Shop Annex in San Mateo, California, where they sell discounted frames and mouldings, as well as home and gift items. They have expanded the original location to include a gallery, where they feature local and international artists. thestudioshop.com

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THE ART OF FRAMING

Do More, NOT LESS

Step up your efforts to attract, and keep, clients By Tara Crichton I have written countless words on the quirky framing A carefully chosen color for a large mat can create a context industry. I find its mix of creativity and craft endlessly engag- to emphasize, rather than overwhelm, the picture. Remember, ing, and I have worked in almost every aspect of its various levels though: Anything you put into the visual plane should have a and outlets. Nevertheless, I have emerged with my passion intact. purpose. If it contributes nothing, then omit it.

I’m a framing nerd and proud of it. I’ve written about how framThe structural aspects of too little framing are even more ers should educate their customers, choose the best products to troubling than the visual problems it can cause. I’m often promote the industry at large, and let their creativity push their appalled at the shoddy construction of certain frames, with six art to the next level. framer’s points holding the artwork. If you use a frame that lacks Many customers have recently come into my shop cradling the structural strength to bear the weight of the finished project, their broken and no-longer-loved framing projects. That rush you should install the proper support structures to hold everyof business has inspired me to tackle what I consider to be the thing together. I also frequently see frames that were assembled mistakes and missteps that lead to bad framing. Of course, there with glue instead of nails—a huge issue, since dried-out glue are exceptions to all my rules, and I have probably even commit- causes the frame to eventually fall off the wall and break. ted some of these heinous crimes myself, but I have repented and I expect to see shoddy construction in plastic-framed art will no longer abet and enable these sins, which could potentially from big-box stores. For example, with mass-market framed kill the framing business. art, I see lots of hot glue, cardboard, and staples instead of I’ll first address the sin of insufficient framing—in both the framer’s points. (Some framers won’t repair these travesties, visual and the structural sense. Using a 1-inch or smaller mat but I don’t refuse any opportunity to build a relationship with is among the worst offenses. What does a a client. Today, it’s broken glass; tomorrow, 1-inch mat actually do? It merely allows you Good framing should it could be a hockey jersey. Just sayin’.) With to charge your customer for a mat and holds last for the life of the custom-framed artwork, however, I expect the glass 1/16 of an inch off the surface of art—not for the few better. I love the look of a delicate frame on the art. A mat that small has too little visual a wide, matted photo or painting. But if I minutes it takes for impact to balance out your frame, no matter have any concerns that the weight of the the customer to put contents will warp the frame or pull the corhow narrow that frame is.

Over the last couple of years, I have been ners apart, I put matboard on the corners or it into the car and offering 4-inch-wide, rather than 2½-inchsupport strapping on the back. take it home. wide, mat samples, yet I know one gallery Use the right strength of hardware for owner who makes 5-inch-wide rag-mat samples. She believes the weight of your framing job—that means wire and D-rings, that she can sell wider mats when she has the samples to back not screw eyes. Screw eyes often break when you put them into up her suggestions. If she only showed 4-inch-wide samples, the frame and will not hold once you apply tension and weight she claims, she wouldn’t be able to help her customers visualize over time. Good framing should last for the life of the art—not the difference that an inch can make. Using this tactic makes a for the few minutes it takes for the customer to put it into the big difference in her bottom line, too, as the bigger mats help car and take it home. customers visualize the final product, require larger frames and Framers should also remember that there is no such thing as an unimportant customer. My customers have shared stories more glass, and yield bigger profits.

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of eye-rolling, finger-tapping sales associates and framers who have been unable to suggest any framing options that appealed to the client. In these cases, the frustrated customers leave with their art in hand to look for better help elsewhere.

Our clients need us to guide and advise them so that the end result is better than they ever thought possible. They should not feel that the work on our table is more important than the work they are bringing us. No one likes to feel as though they are an annoyance. This idea is just as true for a potential customer on the phone as a client walking through the door. A friendly, informative phone manner will get that person into your shop.

Once the customer is there, if you do your job correctly, you can form a valuable and lasting relationship.

People complain that the framing industry has changed, thanks to big-box store infiltration. Framers who were lucky enough to experience the “fat” years of limited-edition picture framing are the most resentful of this change. Those years were the easy ones; money rolled in, no matter what. That world is not the one we live in today.

Your customers want to buy an experience, not just a frame.

From the moment they enter your space, they should feel welcomed and appreciated. When they pick up their completed masterpieces, they should be thrilled. If there is an awkward silence and an indecipherably flat expression on the customer’s FA L L 2 0 1 5 E D I T I O N

face after you reveal your finished product, you need to ask what’s wrong and find out how to make it right. It is easier (but not wiser) to pretend that all is well, wrap everything up, and try to forget that the whole thing happened—but that seed of dissatisfaction will grow as the frame hangs on the client’s wall, and that client will become a former client, spreading the word to every friend and acquaintance within hearing distance. Keep your customers happy, and you’ll find that word of mouth will build your business better than any paid advertising.

The moral of this rant is: “Do more, not less.” There is no benefit in apathy. Supplying merely a modicum of customer service and frame quality will slowly and surely kill your business. Yes, we all get busy and tired and impatient. The key is to ensure that those negative forces don’t undercut the service and product that our clients deserve. Feed your business with welcoming smiles and framing projects that make your clients ecstatic. Make yourself the solution, not part of the problem, and your business is sure to benefit. ® 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 has worked in every aspect of the framing industry, including retail, wholesale distribution, OEM, and art direction. She now owns and operates a gallery just north of Toronto.

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THE GUERRILLA FRAMER

SPEED UP

TO EARN A COMPETITIVE EDGE Every business needs a competitive edge—a way to stand out from the competition and forge a unique identity that attracts customers. What does your business do to set itself apart and make itself more desirable to consumers? And how do you communicate those differences to prospective customers?

To create an advantage for your business, you need to convince consumers that your business is different and tell them what unique benefits you provide. Only a few options are available to picture framers who want to achieve this goal: quality, value, and speed. Or, as my father used to tell me when I was first starting out in business, you can be cheaper, better, or faster, but there’s no reason to be all three.

All framers tout the quality of their work, as well they should. The truth is that most framers, including the craft stores, produce good products, particularly in the minds of the people whose opinions matter most: the customers. You can attempt to separate your work from the competition based on quality, but building a reputation for quality is difficult and generally takes years to achieve.

Claims of superior quality are also difficult

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to convey through advertising. You can’t easily measure or quantify quality. If you want to convince customers of the superior quality of your framing, it’s better to do so by showing them rather than telling them.

Perhaps the best way to show them is with an in-store display featuring a side-by-side comparison of your work with that of the competition. Of course, you first have to get the customers into your store.

For the independent framer, value is another option. But even if you have the lowest prices in town, it’s difficult to out-advertise the deep pockets of the craft-store chains, which claim savings of as much as 70 percent. Consumers have begun to recognize that such claims may be mostly smoke and mirrors, but you’re still facing an uphill battle.

Finally, there’s speed. If you really want to separate your framing business from the competition, consider offering faster service. Historically, few framers have placed much emphasis on speed.

Customers are commonly forced to wait two weeks or more before they can enjoy their purchase. And while they’re waiting for their frame, you’re waiting for payment. If the independents are bad when

it comes to turnaround time, some chain stores are even worse, often quoting wait times of six weeks or more.

The question is, why? When you consider that most frames require just one or two hours of labor to complete, it’s almost embarrassing that our customers have to wait weeks before they can pick up their finished orders. Can we do better? I believe we can. Most frame shops are equipped for and have the manpower to turn out completed orders in as little as 24 hours. Despite this capability and the benefits it offers, only a small percentage of framers offer fast service, and even fewer advertise it.

One of the best things about quick turnaround is that it gives you a clearly describable and marketable advantage over other framers. It’s a desirable benefit that your customers will appreciate.

Offering fast service increases sales, helps you gain market share, and can turn bins of on-hand inventory into profit. Best of all, it makes customers happy. This is especially true of frequent purchasers who are used to waiting weeks for custom framing. One-day services are particularly attractive to last-minute gift shoppers and corporate buyers. Another advantage is

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3D Vector/Shutterstock.com

One-day turnaround sets a business apart from other frame shops By Paul Cascio

that, when customers focus on speed, they tend to be less sensitive to price.

Fast service is also a benefit that’s easy to market, especially in today’s world of immediate gratification. But if you want to convey speed in clear and understandable terms, don’t just tell the customer that you’re faster; tell them how fast— one-day fast. One-day framing is the crown jewel of rush service. Offering it can give you a unique weapon in today’s crowded marketplace.

It’s neither necessary nor expected that you will complete all of your orders in one day. Instead, you offer it as an option. You need only a limited selection of in-stock moulding and mats to satisfy consumers that place speed ahead of other criteria.

The customer who needs his or her order done yesterday won’t be concerned that the gold frame you provide doesn’t quite match a chandelier at home.

From now on, rather than telling customers, “Your order will be ready in one day,” tell them, “Your order will be ready

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tomorrow.” You’ll be amazed at The benefits to framers and customers are the delighted responses you’ll get, numerous and significant. When customas well as the number of loyal cus- ers no longer have to wait weeks to fill that tomers one-day framing can generate for space on their living room wall or to enjoy your business. displaying items that When customers Long wait times they collect and chermay increase anticipano longer have to ish, everyone benefits. tion and may even add Long wait times have wait weeks to fill to the “wow” factor been a turnoff for cuscustomers experience that space on their tomers throughout the when they see their living room wall or history of our indusfinished orders, but try. Today’s consumer to enjoy displaying customers generally simply doesn’t want to items that they view such waits in a wait for anything. And negative light. collect and cherish, why should they?

Extended turnOne-day framing everyone benefits. around times are also can be a game-changer bad for you. They produce a negative for independently owned framing busiimpact on your cash flow, increase risk nesses. It can be especially effective in by prolonging the amount of time your competing with large craft stores, which customer’s property is in your posses- lack both the on-site skills and the equipsion, and increase the likelihood that ment to match the speed you can offer. ® you’ll end up with an orphaned order that the customer never picks up. With Paul Cascio is the lead instructor for one-day framing, it’s easy to ask for—and The American Picture Framing Academy receive—full payment up front. (pictureframingschool.com). Cascio Speeding up completion times for orders also provides business and sales training should be a universal goal of the entire and consulting. Contact Cascio at independent picture-framing industry. pdc@pictureframingschool.com.

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Confusion About Conservation

INDUSTRY PROS DISAGREE ABOUT THE ROLE CONSERVATION PRODUCTS SHOULD PLAY IN FRAMING ART During some in-depth conversations with framers and framing experts from all over the world, I have noticed a considerable amount of confusion—among customers, framers, and leaders in the field—about the importance of preservation and conservation when framing. “Conservation framing,” or framing in accordance to museum standards, helps reduce the effects of atmospheric exposure on works on paper.

I was recently involved in a discussion with a high-ranking representative from a major matboard manufacturer who says that the new conservation standards do not allow for optical brightening agents (OBAs) because they tend to fade, implying that the effects of these materials are purely cosmetic. However, one of the experts advising and contributing to the new conservation standards said that he believes OBAs are reactive to things typically framed and therefore should not be considered conservation. These clashing opinions are a classic example of the opposing views people in the industry have about conservation products.

Experts and educators often argue about the level and type of UV protection that different brands and types of glazing offer and what segments of the UV spectrum framers should consider when protecting artwork. The arguments arise from the fact that it is nearly impossible to prove a product’s effectiveness except in artificial laboratory conditions. Some of the confusion derives from distributors and manufacturers trying to sell products in

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an increasingly tough environment, one that demands spin and salesmanship among brands. We’ve all heard it: “Here’s why ours is the best and theirs is significantly less effective.”

The more overzealous framers have whipped a small segment of the public into a panic over conservation. I have experienced armchair-conservationist customers who expect to have their artwork framed in a manner that allows no damage-causing light in, displays the art without using any adhesive, and touches nothing inside of the frame. These customers essentially want the artwork suspended in a vacuum inside an airtight frame and then want to know why framing is so expensive.

On some days, I feel as though I am trying to be more of a magician than a framer. As I’ve told people, I can use my telekinetic powers and magical force fields to display and protect your art, but it is terribly wearing on me, so I have to charge accordingly. It is probably best to frame for the available conservation level and budget.

From a business point of view, selling conservation-level materials is really more about justification of the price rather than preservation of the artwork. When a customer wants to know why custom framing is so expensive, it is much more acceptable to explain to them that the training, materials, and techniques involved in a conservation package are more costly and time consuming than those that does not use those techniques. This explanation gives framers more leeway than they

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Adriano Castelli/Shutterstock.com

By Ed Gowda

would have in trying to convince their customers that their time is valuable.

Whether conservation framing provides measurable protection in a real-world setting is debatable and, in some cases, even unnecessary; however, the cost differential for using conservation framing is real. I like to give my customers a visual representation of the difference between conservation and non-

to worry about reproducing conservation framing on the caliber of the Smithsonian, but we do have to respond when customers expect the same level of conservation of historical artifacts they observe at antique shows and in TV documentaries.

My solution to the confusion is to give your customers choices to meet both their needs and their budgets, and to educate them in a way that causes no panic about preserving the

On some days, I feel as though I am trying to be more of a magician than a framer. conservation framing. We offer non-conservation packages for those with budget constraints. These packages include regular glass, regular foam-board backing, and a limited selection of discount mouldings. Generally, the constraint on options gets the customers to consider the broader selection and better presentation possibilities of conservation services and appreciate the difference they offer in quality, preservation, selection, and price.

It might sound as though I am trying to steer customers into believing in conservation, even though the results vary. I do believe, however, that using conservation materials and techniques that are proven in laboratory conditions is the most effective way to preserve objects that are to be displayed. I also believe that it is in our and our customers’ best interest to give their art every advantage possible, no matter the perceived value. We don’t have

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value and importance of their art. To achieve this goal, framers need better access to the information. We tend to guard our mystical framing secrets as if we were in a cult. To draw in the preservation-minded through fear, we leak just enough information about how indispensable a good framer is, but so little information that customers become skeptical of our skill level, causing them to build unrealistic expectations in order to test our knowledge. The industry instead requires affordable and easily accessible education for all framers. ÂŽ With three Framing Palace locations in Maryland, Ed Gowda has specialized in custom framing for more than 25 years. One of his passions is to share information and ideas within the industry.

Contact him at framingpalace.com.

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April 14–17, 2016 Pier 94, NYC

Discover the latest in the framing industry.

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FALL 2015

Exhibit. Attend. Experience.

FOUR DAYS OF UNLIMITED TIPS & TOOLS FOR THE FRAMING INDUSTRY Stay ahead of the competition, connect with colleagues, and increase your profits. Join us for Decor Expo New York next April, alongside leading fine art shows Artexpo New York and [SOLO].

The All-New

Contact us to Learn More!

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decorexponewyork.com I info@redwoodmg.com

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SHINE ONLINE POLISH YOUR WEBSITE AND MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR BUSINESS’ WEB PRESENCE

By Litsa Spanos The Internet is a powerful tool—it allows you to talk to millions with no more effort than if you were talking to one; it gives you control over how, when, and where you communicate with your customers and how they get in touch with you; and it provides a built-in fan base, which is the lifeblood of a thriving business.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and get started? Here are a few tips to help you harness the power of the Internet in order to connect with your customers and drive sales.

USE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS High-quality photos of yourself, your team, your products, your space, and your completed projects are critical to projecting a great image and brand. A collection of professional headshots and photos of your work environment— along with action shots that show, for example, artists you highlight in your studio and photos of your gallery or frame shop—provide plentiful imagery for your marketing efforts. Beautiful photos are worth the time, expense, and effort, and they’ll make you look polished and reliable.

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HELP CUSTOMERS EASILY FIND AND REACH YOU Visitors come to your website to learn about your business, but they also want to know the person or people behind the business. By creating a streamlined one-click contact section, you’ll ensure that they can easily find and connect with you.

Make sure to include your email address, business phone number, and links to social media pages (more on this last point later).

ASK YOUR FAVORITE CUSTOMERS FOR FEEDBACK When promoting your business, nothing beats featuring great testimonials from loyal customers. Art Design Consultants (adcfinearts.com), for example, features photos and heartfelt statements from its clients. Contact your clients and ask for feedback; you’ll be amazed at what you receive.

CREATE ATTENTIONGRABBING E-BLASTS Use your email lists to send regularly scheduled marketing emails that are exciting, compelling, and interesting. You can simply purchase stock

photography or add your own photos to personalize these e-blasts, which should target your clients’ interests. Remember: It’s not about you; it’s about them.

WRITE A BLOG THAT INSPIRES RATHER THAN SELLS Writing a weekly blog is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your customers. With it, you can showcase great art, beautiful frames, interesting events, and more. A blog is engaging and interactive; it doesn’t try to sell anything.

For years, ADC has offered a weekly art and design blog—with great results. Make sure that your blog is genuine, inspirational, and personal. Your customers will love it and will always think of you when they need your products and services.

ENGAGE, INTERACT & CONNECT Billions of people use social media, so drawing people to your business requires visually stimulating and

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Screenshots of art design consultants’ website and social media pages. attention-grabbing posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. All posts should provide meaningful information that your friends and followers will want to read, so you should carefully plan and craft the content. Add linked social-media icons and your website URL to your email signature line and all marketing materials.

Executing a social-media marketing plan on your own is time-consuming and nearly impossible, so it is well worth hiring a prolific social-media guru who knows you and your business.

TELL YOUR STORY WITH VIDEOS Great products and impeccable service matter, but stories are the threads that connect people to businesses and

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brands. Videos provide an engaging way of highlighting your company’s personality, culture, and customers. They help humanize a business and are among the easiest ways to add interactivity to your website. They enable you to promote your core business, highlight exciting events, spotlight artists you work with, and showcase recent projects. Your videos should have music and compelling visuals, and they should tell your story in an interesting way. For more exposure, put these videos on your website and YouTube channel, and include them in your blog posts and marketing emails.

Anyone can get a website, rant on a blog, post on Facebook, or send e-blasts.

How you use these powerful media tools,

however, is what will set you apart from your competitors. When you present your business in its best light, you will earn your customers’ loyalty, create a marketing message that sizzles, and ultimately boost your business and your bottom line. ® Litsa Spanos, president of Art Design Consultants and publisher of Blink Art Resource, is an award-winning gallery owner, publisher, art consultant, educator, artist advocate, and custom framer. Cincinnati USA’s Regional Chamber named ADC “Woman-Owned Business of the Year” in 2013, and the company is in the top 2 percent of all women-owned businesses in the nation. For more information, contact Litsa at litsa@adcfineart.com, visit the website adcfineart.com, or call 800-439-2960.

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FRAMING’S POST-RECESSION

RECOVERY

By Marc Hopkins

MUCH HAS CHANGED FOR CUSTOM FRAMERS SINCE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY; THESE DAYS, MANY BUSINESSES ARE STILL RECOVERING FROM THE RECESSION, AND OTHERS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS TO EXPAND THEIR REACH

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Wendy Concannon

On a recent Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia’s tony depend on the fact that it resides in a high-earning area, where Chestnut Hill neighborhood, framed artwork appeared along the people have large disposable incomes. area’s shopping district. Many of the works were on buildings, “There are customers I’ve had here for years and years, and such as a watercolor-on-paper image of crimson-iced cupcakes they get framing, and they get art,” Borrelli says. “And that’s part and black coffee mounted on the red brick façade of Iron Hill of being a small business on the avenue in this location.”

Brewery. Others, including an oil-on-canvas abstract and a paintBorrelli is glad that business is improving, but he isn’t coming of sailboats racing along the Delaware River, hung on posts in fortable yet because his numbers haven’t fully recovered to a realty office’s front yard. pre-recession levels. When he first opened, he recalls, a cusThe display was part of a tomer dropped in and spent ACCORDING TO THE REPORT, AS pop-up exhibition sponsored $14,000. “I was like, ‘Wow, by the Philadelphia Museum I’m glad I opened,’” he says.

THE ECONOMY TICKS UPWARD of Art. This mile-long stretch At the time, Borrelli’s IN THE YEARS LEADING TO 2019, of Germantown Avenue is business account averaged an art hot spot, with visitors $37,000 a month, but the REVENUE FOR THE FRAMING having access to fine art galrecession all but stalled sales, INDUSTRY SHOULD INCREASE. leries, custom framing shops, and Borrelli was only able to a fine art digital print shop, and a photo art gallery. pull in $10,000 a month to keep things going. Additional income Chestnut Hill has nearly 10,000 residents and a median house- from digital printing provided a boost, but the slowdown eroded hold income of more than $91,000, according to Realtor.com. that part of his business, too. “There used to be a market for sign The average home price is $645,000. In this environment, art and number prints for giclées,” he says. “We used to have posterbusinesses both compete and cooperate with each other. This size printing, and now that market is gone.” situation is especially important for custom framers, who were At Profiles, a fine art printmaking studio and gallery in the hit hard during the recent recession. Some in the framing indus- same neighborhood, Michael and Janine Zaikowski greet custry estimate that, from 2007 through 2009, 50 percent of such tomers who come in to drop off or retrieve prints of their work. businesses closed permanently. A 2012 New York Times article The husband-and-wife team started out running a photo lab, but noted that custom framing shops in the U.S. numbered about as the technology evolved, so did their approach to business. In 8,000, down from a high of 28,000.

2000, they invested $75,000 in an Iris Printer. Michael Zaikowski Framing, however, is poised to make a comeback, accord- laughs as he recalls that the printer cost $2,000 a month in ing to the market researcher IBIS World. The company issued a repairs and ran only three days a week because it was usually report last year that credits the rise of disposable incomes and the under repair on the other two. improvement of the economy as reasons for a positive prognosis.

This early hiccup didn’t hinder the couple’s passion for proThe report also cites lower unemployment figures, improved cus- ducing quality work, and Profiles has become a destination for tomer sentiment, and a higher demand for frames. According to artists throughout the region seeking high-quality reproducthe report, as the economy ticks upward in the years leading to tions. The shop now has an Epson printer and scans images with 2019, revenue for the framing industry should increase. a 40-megapixel Hasselblad camera. A selling point for Profiles Joseph Borrelli is the owner and director of the Chestnut Hill is Michael Zaikowski’s technical expertise and the materials he Gallery, which opened in 2005. He says that, although business uses to create reproductions. has not reached the As the couple sees it, a growing number of collectors and artists LEFT AND RIGHT: Window level it was before the have become more sophisticated in their standards and presendisplays in Wendy Concannon’s recession, things are tation values. Artists have come to understand that the union Chestnut Hill fine art photography gallery. CENTER: Framing certainly looking up. of quality inks, quality papers, and accurate reproductions are and decor offerings in another The success and sur- essential to the finished product. “We need that [quality] because vival of his business that’s what keeps us in business,” says Michael Zaikowski. “Then Chestnut Hill gallery.

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FROM top: Looking through the window at One of Jay Davidson Susanin’s beach maps displayed along with other framed art; Chestnut Hill bustles with foot traffic on a summer day. there’s the average person, who, when I tell them the cost of the print, says, ‘Kinko’s will do it for a tenth of that price.’ ” Wendy Concannon’s fine art photography gallery is just a few doors down from Profiles on Germantown Avenue. Concannon’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today, and her eponymously named gallery features her traditional and digitally altered images. She uses only seamless acrylic glass framing, in which each encasement’s design and size complement the size of the print, but if customers are looking for a more traditional or modern look, such as a white lacquer frame, she refers them to one of the framers on the Hill.

Concannon goes to local sources for her printing as well, and she is devout in her loyalty to Michael Zaikowski at Profiles, who convinced her to stop printing on photographic paper in favor of a 100 percent cotton-rag variety. She immediately saw improvement in the color palette of her images, and from that day forward she refused to settle for less. “To the untrained eye, they might say, ‘Oh, this is fine,’ but it’s really not,” she said. “Discerning buyers know the difference.”

At the top of the Hill sits Palladio, a custom framing and art-production outfit that Jay Davidson Susanin opened in 2001. For Susanin, the best strategy against the recession was to simultaneously initiate several complementary lines of business; if one fell short, the others could carry the load. “We’ve had to be super creative to reinvent ourselves and what we offer to our customers,” he says.

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The company expanded its services to include interior design and art production, and these facets of the business play into Susanin’s interest and background in history. “It’s the interpretation of what we do with memorabilia and object framing,” he says. “We just don’t put it in a frame; we will go to the ends of the earth to make the design unique.”

Susanin recently remodeled an apartment in a neighboring community. The makeover entailed new colors for the interior, new carpeting, new furniture, new accessories, and original artwork, including some 1,400 photo images of the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Two years ago, Susanin launched Bank & Surf, which also operates from the Chestnut Hill location. The brand specializes in digitally created beach maps that Susanin can personalize for customers. The inspiration came while he was creating an art plan for a house in Naples, Florida. “I really wanted a map for the main room of the house, and, after looking for a map in Naples for 10 days, I came back to Philadelphia, and I drew it,” he says. Demand for the maps took off. Bank & Surf now has a catalog of more than 250 maps that are available in stores from Maine to Florida.

Susanin’s clients often hail from beyond Philadelphia’s borders, but he credits his current address for helping him sustain and thrive. “Being in this neighborhood has advantages because it’s one of the two wealthiest places in the Philadelphia region.

The people that have beach houses live in this area, and they get and understand what we’re doing.”

But not all framing success is neighborhood-based.

One Seattle-based outfit wanted to harness the trend of online sales, and Picture Frame Guys was born. The entirely web-based company sells frames to the do-it-yourself crowd

D E CO R M AG A Z I N E .CO M

TOP: Wendy Concannon; BOTTOM: Darryl Moran

FOR SUSANIN, THE BEST STRATEGY AGAINST THE RECESSION WAS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY INITIATE SEVERAL COMPLEMENTARY LINES OF BUSINESS; IF ONE FELL SHORT, THE OTHERS COULD CARRY THE LOAD. who wants to save on price by getting frames online and doing some of the work on their own.

“Our background is in manufacturing; we’re not actually dot-com people,” says Peter Fendler, the company’s marketing manager. “We just thought that there’s got to be a way to turn frames around in 24 hours. That’s where we started from.”

Picture Frame Guys, which Fendler started in 2008, has also attracted professional clients, including local franchises of national fast-food chains. Wedding photographers, especially those who include frames with their sales packages, have also become fans. “If their customers end up buying frames through them, [the photographer] can go through us and doesn’t have to worry about putting them together,” says Fendler.

In addition to providing faster turnaround, Fendler says, the company keeps overhead low by working in an industrial park rather than a pricey retail spot on a busy thoroughfare. Although brick-and-mortar shops usually attract customers from certain neighborhoods, Picture Frame Guys can sell to the whole country and to Canada.

Fendler concedes that people looking for a Chestnut Hill experience are out of his reach and that stores with great customer service are his real competition. “The people who go to those stores don’t want to do the framing themselves; they want someone do to it for them and are willing to spend the extra money,” he says. “The person buying from us is really the person who wants to save a buck.”

When Palladio’s Susanin describes how a bad economy hurt his business, he could be speaking for all framers who survived: “We took a little kick in the stomach with the recession, but we’ve grown steadily,” he says. And the omens suggest that growth will continue. In July, current home sales increased to 3.2 percent, which amounts to an annual rate of 5.49 million units, the largest increase since February 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. Those units make for a generous supply of walls requiring framed art. ®

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PARTING SHOT

“Vincent Van Gogh – The Search for Truth,” David Palmer

David Palmer uses bullets to create portraits of iconic figures that died from gunshot wounds, whether by assassination, murder, or other tragic circumstances. “Throughout history, art has been used as weapon of war, so it seemed fitting to take a weapon of war and make it art,” Palmer says. The Indiana native and Ball State grad collects bullet shells and, after lining them up to make a canvas, he uses a hand torch to blacken or shade the shells to create the portrait.

“The materials I have chosen to use serve my purpose because of the . . . emotionally charged response they evoke,” says Palmer. “My hope is that you will feel the emotion attached to the medium and then see the possibility that can arise from choosing to create rather than destroy.”

Palmer is represented by The La Jolla Gallery, a luxury art gallery in San Diego that exhibits emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. bulletproof2011.com • thelajollagallery.com

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