4Walls magazine issue 38

THE ART AND FRAMING MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONALS

NO. 38. 2020 Brought to you by

The Jazz Man

Rick McGroarty

One Wall Two Walls Three Walls Four Walls

WELCOME!

We are also lining up some exciting new product launches for the next few weeks.

Welcome to Issue 38 of 4walls! I am really excited to be taking over as editor and must pay huge tribute to what Pauline Hutchinson has achieved over all 37 previous issues.

Thank you, Pauline – I have a hard act to follow.

We have been incredibly busy over the last few months. Our new Customer Service Centre is now fully operational and you can read all about it on pages 24 and 25. We have been adding to our portfolio of webinars – which have been very well received, and are still available to view on our website.

This issue of 4walls is packed with news, features on artists and framers, alongside best practice and Jon Price’s latest masterclass, which covers glazing. Our front cover artist is Rick McGroarty. His iconic collection has just been on show at Be Framed in Cork – the full story is on pages 4 and 5. We are featuring The Art Shops on pages 11 and 12 – a family concern that has been around for over 100 years alongside newer businesses, including Creative Fine Art and their latest talent who is a tattoo artist on pages 16 and 17.

I hope you enjoy reading this 4walls magazine as much as we have enjoyed putting it together, and do let me know if you have suggestions for future issues. I would love to receive your feedback via email and please follow us on social media.

Matt Matt George, Editor matt.george@larsonjuhl.co.uk @4wallsbyLJUK @4wallsbyLJUK @4wallsbyLJUK

3. Celebrating Soho

A stunning new collection

4. What a Corker!

Learn all about Lane Gallery

CONTENTS NO. 38. 2020

6. Snapping their way to success A profile of Olive Tree Studios

8. Profitable Pricing

Mark Wilson from Framiac on the principles of upselling

10. Keeping it in the family

Tim Tennant shares his success story

13. Virtual Excellence

A very fine story from Gordon Robertson

12. Life in the fast lane

Catching up with The Memento Group

14. Catching up with Tony A Scot in the frame

16. Tat’s the way to do it!

Creative Fine Art and their tattoo star

18. Focus on framing equipment

Peter and Jan Stanlick share advice and best practice

20. Goodbye to a framing legend THE ART AND FRAMING MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONALS

Alec Rolfe retires!

22. Get Framous Shortlist unveiled!

24. A new home, a new era

Managing director Jonathan Burrage talks about Larson-Juhl’s new Customer Service Centre

26. News in Brief

Sponsorship, seminars and The Smithsonian

27. Mixing and Stacking Mouldings - Part 2 A masterclass with Jon Price GCF (APF)

30. Ask the experts

How to frame a map - by Lyn Hall GCF (APF) Adv

31. Days to keep in mind

Dates for the promotional diary!

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Celebrating Soho Soho is a stunning collection of smooth black satin finish mouldings with contrasting gold and silver accents. Named after the cosmopolitan neighbourhood in New York ‘South of Houston’, where much of the contemporary art world began, Soho complements black and white photography and abstract art beautifully. This range offers an excellent alternative to metal mouldings when crisp, geometric lines are needed.

Soho is available in widths of 23mm, 27mm, 52mm and 70mm.

Find out more at www.larsonjuhl.co.uk

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Rick McGroarty and Eoin Lane

WHAT A CORKER! Eoin Lane is fanatical about framing and has spent the last 28 years building up his business, which more recently has also developed a reputation as a champion of local creative talent. Given the success of this side of his offer, Eoin is in the process of rebranding Be Framed as The Lane Gallery – to fully utilise his space and having just hosted the work of cover artist Rick McGroarty.

Until last year, Eoin sold a range of limited editions and prints, but now he focuses on original art. The Rick McGroarty show has only recently finished and was met with a fantastic reception.

A well-known artist residing in Cork, Rick McGroarty frequently uses the picturesque backdrop of his hometown as inspiration for his creations. Nature provides another key muse for the artist, as does architecture and portraiture. His versatility is represented not only in his vast array of themes and styles, but also in the materials he uses; namely acrylic paints, black ink and watercolour.

Rick has been working on a commission basis since 2009, creating bespoke pieces of art for a wide range of clients.

While Rick’s in-depth knowledge of his subject matter and his use of colour and perspective immediately catches the eye, it is the delicate intricacies of his work and his painstaking attention to detail that encourages more than just a passing glance.

Follow Rick on Facebook @rickmcgroarty www.rickmcgroarty.com

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EOIN IN THE FRAME Born and bred in Douglas, Eoin really knows and understands the local market, and has built up a great reputation for delivering quality. He prides himself on picking out and creating the perfect frame – whatever the artwork. Two or three dimensional. Classical painting or sentimental keepsake.

Eoin buys 90% of his mouldings from Larson-Juhl, offering customers a choice of over 200 frames. He sells large quantities of white and off white options in particular, across a whole range of sizes and textures. He buys his mountboard from Larson-Juhl too. Eoin says: “The breadth of range and stock, and also their efficiency makes Larson-Juhl a very good company to deal with. And they pick good reps! I really enjoy dealing with Orin. I can rely on him.”

James Nagle assists Eoin with framing and looking after customers, having joined the business two and a half years ago. Post lockdown, Eoin is enjoying a really busy period and is looking to keep the momentum going with his busy schedule of stunning Irish art. www.beframed.ie

HALE MICHAEL!

Eoin’s next event will involve Michael Hales and his iconic encaustic art. Combining the fluidity of beeswax and damar resin with the vibrancy of oil painting, Michael uses a bold use of colour, applied in layers using heat and carving previous strata.

Michael is influenced by the current zeitgeist. A growing cultural response to an incredibly fast changing world is an increasing nostalgic view of the past. Michael’s images aim to evoke wistful memories with, for example, glimpses of inviting landscapes that appear both heavily abstracted and familiar at once.

Then, as Christmas approaches, Eoin is planning an exhibition involving 30 local artists to offer plenty of variety and choice for customers looking for gift ideas.

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Snapping their way to success!

We spoke to Mark Bailey from Olive Tree Photography in Warrington and were thrilled to hear about his success working with Larson-Juhl products.

Mark gave us a detailed background on Olive Tree’s beginnings in the industry.

Originally starting off as just a photography studio, the business’s success has been impressive ever since and they are constantly continuing to grow. To start with, it was just Mark and his wife Emma, who is a trained framer, but as they became busier and busier they grew the business and eventually had three studios across the North of England.

Mark tells us: “We were servicing over 100 clients every single month and had a very big team to assist us with this, but we knew we needed to make some sort of change. We felt we were getting around 99% of clients’ requests spot on, but there was still that 1% that needed improvement.”

Due to this, the company decided to downsize back to one studio, in order to have everything back in one place and focus more on client needs.

The downsize was a great success for Olive Tree, and resulted in the business seeing more sales from one studio compared to the previous three.

Mark states: “As we built the studio side of the business, we managed to sell a lot more wall art to those visiting, and this has helped to establish our studio focus and aid us in our plans for the future.

My business partner Alisha Rogers has

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played a key role in all this – she is my absolute rock.

“We currently do all of our studio framing in-house, and the average piece we do is around a 30" sq frame with a multiaperture mount, using Larson-Juhl mouldings for all of our work. We recently sought assistance from our Larson-Juhl rep Seb as we were looking to purchase a mount cutter, and Seb was a huge help in locating one.

“We knew there was a market for multiaperture mounts as we found that it was not something many other studios offered, so this has been a brilliant addition to our services. We try to do as much as we can onsite, including all of the printing as well as supplying stretch canvases.”

The business currently carries out all of its sales through the studio, as clients come in to have their photoshoots and once the work is completed, they come back to the studio and are sold the wall art. When it comes to current marketing, Olive Tree use a variety of different channels:

“When clients come in to collect their work we always give them a flyer with our website details, which we have found to be very helpful at spreading the word about our services and letting existing customers know about all of our other offerings.

“We also have a monthly WeTransfer subscription as this is how we send digital copies of our work to clients, and this allows us to advertise the company on the WeTransfer website whilst people are downloading their files. Digital marketing is a channel we are looking to expand, and have also found that Facebook advertising

can be really helpful for getting our name out there and attracting new customers.”

When it comes to future plans, Olive Tree is currently working with a marketing company to help set up an online framing branch of the business, where customers can upload their images to the Olive Tree website and edit them ready to be framed by Mark and his team. Marks tells us: “This is something we have been working on since before the lockdown and have been conscious not to rush the process, so have worked with developers to iron out any hiccups in the customer experience before we go live with the new site.”

We were thrilled to hear that Olive Tree use Larson-Juhl products for all of their work, with Mark stating: “Our favourite range is Lincoln, which we have found to be incredibly popular amongst our clients, and I love how easy it is to put together and the vast range of colours it is available in. Our rep Seb has really looked after us and has played a significant part in our move to all Larson-Juhl products.”

To see more of the Olive Tree’s work, find them on Facebook @olivetreestudiosltd, or visit the website. www.olivetreestudios.co.uk

471000499 Lincoln Photography courtesy of Kelly Brown.

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PROFITABLE PRICING Mark Wilson from Framiac ran a pricing and upselling webinar with Jon Price last month. You can view the webinar link and below are Mark’s views on the principles of best practice.

In my experience, the price we think a customer will pay does not correlate to what the customer will pay. When I first started my business I had little money and therefore priced to what I thought I could afford.

Later, after realising I was struggling to pay my bills and afford to live, I started lifting my prices. This was scary, how many people would reject my quotes, would the business I invested so much into survive?

What I found was that there was no change in rejection.

Some people rejected my prices, but that happened when my prices were lower anyway.

Increasing my prices did two things; it allowed me time in the business, I wasn’t flat out making frames all day just to pay the bills, and soon I was able to afford a part-time employee. This is when I started focussing more on building a consistent profitable pricing model. I wouldn’t say this was an easy process, it took some research, work and contemplation. It required finding a workable system to which I could apply my model. Computers in the early ‘90s were becoming more mainstream and luckily for me I found the perfect solution.

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Advocating consistency

Confidence is key

After this my business took off. If I had to say what the main factors were, I would say confidence and consistency. I now understood my pricing and why I needed to charge the price I did. This gave me confidence to look the customer in the eye and deliver the price.

This also reassured the customer about the price. Some were surprised by the price, but the way it was delivered convinced them the price was correct.

By being consistent, our customers were able to confidently pass on a price to their family and friends, and when these people came to us there was no nasty surprise. They felt more comfortable entering the shop and asking for a quote as the price had been somewhat normalised. Offering considered and consistent prices really worked for me.

Consistency also had a lot to do with the success of the business. We received a lot of word of mouth referrals and totally reliable delivery standards had a lot to do with this. Part of this was keeping to the same consultation processes and delivery times, but transparent pricing had a lot to do with it too.

Place yourself in the shoes of the customer and get an understanding of what it is like to ask for a quote for something which does not have a commonly advertised price. Consider being the customer of a business where the price is given after looking up at the ceiling for a minute. It doesn’t create a lot of confidence for the customer, and it also reflects somewhat negatively on the entire business and framing industry as a whole.

My business was not in a high-income area, in fact it was the lowest income area per capita in the whole state of New South Wales. I’ve heard people say: “My customers will never pay that”. I think this comes back to what I said earlier, it’s easy to set your prices to what you think people will pay rather than what your customers are willing to pay for your specialisation. I’m proof that even in a low-income area there are customers who will pay the price, all you need to do is create the right kind of environment for them, an environment that meets their desires and expectations.

Learning from rejection

It’s important to reflect on why customers reject quotes.

Quotes are not always rejected because of the price, but because the level of service did not match the customer’s expectation. When I go to a specialist business, I expect a higher level of service. If the level of service is below my expectation it makes me feel uneasy, I’m not sure they are going to give me I nvest time in understanding the quality I expect, and your pricing. then if the price is lower than anticipated I wonder B e considered and consistent how they can deliver the with your pricing. quality I desire. Will there be shortcuts made?

D on’t prejudge your customers or their item to be framed.

It should go without saying that proper pricing is Regularly review your prices, fundamental to the survival don’t fall behind as your of the business. It’s easy to expenses increase. think the only way to make more money is to make Test the market, don’t be afraid more frames. But perhaps to adjust your prices. stop and consider for a moment that you can be Record and monitor your more profitable by simply conversion rate from quotes to raising your prices, even confirmed orders. just a little. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at T hink about why the quote was the level of price rejection rejected. Was it the price or when you do. was it not meeting customer expectations?

Mark’s investment

TOP TIPS

Buying a computer singularly for running a pricing and POS software package was quite an investment in the 90s. However, I have always maintained that this was the best thing I ever did. It enabled me to build a business on solid information, it allowed for everyone in the business to price accurately and consistently and therefore enabled me to step back from the business, which was very beneficial to my social and mental wellbeing. Computers and software are much cheaper these days (we even provide a FREE pricing package), I genuinely believe every framer should consider these as essential as a guillotine or mount cutter.

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A century of keeping it in the family!

Tim Tennant from The Art Shops recently told us all about his brilliant family business history, and we just knew we had to share it with all of you. Read on to find out all about how The Art Shops became what it is today, and how successful the various art initiatives have been!

When it comes to the rich history of the business, Tim tells us: “Our business is 101 years old and was originally started by my grandfather, who then handed the business down to my father. Naturally, as I was looking for my first job as a teenager, I took up the opportunity to work for the family business alongside my father… and I’m still here forty years later!

“My grandad was a local commercial artist who also specialised in picture framing. He was incredibly successful and at one point was even offered a job in London with a large advertising company. Despite this, he decided to stay local and keep the family business running, but sadly passed away whilst my father was at war.

“When my father returned from the war, he decided to continue his father’s legacy by taking on the family business solo, and even expanded in the late 60s when he started selling art materials. We have always offered picture framing as a service thanks to my grandfather’s skills, but the business really began to grow when I joined in the 80s.

We now have a gallery alongside the picture framing and art supplies, and continue to do all framing on the premises at Ilkley. We also have another shop in Northallerton in North Yorkshire. They also offer a framing service with the work carried out at Ilkley.”

The business is now split into two parts and Tim has kept it in the family, now working alongside his wife and daughter.

He tells us: “It’s a bit like the mafia really… once you’re in, you can’t get out!”

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Tim’s daughter is currently studying Marketing at university, which Tim claims has been a great help as she looks after the digital marketing side of the business including the emails and social media accounts.

Tim states: “We’ve been set up for a really long time, and although there are two other framers in the town, we have built up a good reputation and have gained some very loyal customers over the years.”

“We are very traditional picture framers but do cater for different customer types. The art material side of the business obviously attracts artists and we often frame their work for exhibitions both in our own gallery and others. We also provide a picture cleaning and restoration service.”

The Arts Shops offering includes an annual art event known as the Ilkley Art Show, which they have now been running for over 20 years.

Tim tells us that it has been very well received and widely attended year on year. The show is completely organised by Tim and his team and aims to bring together artists from around the region. Unfortunately, the show did not go ahead this year due to obvious reasons.

Tim tells us: “We are always up for a challenge and will try to frame most things brought to us.

We’ve framed some incredibly unusual items in our time, including some shedded snake skin, a very old set of surgical instruments and a photo montage which was 12 feet long!

Fortunately the customers only lived a short distance away and so were able to carry it

home. We get a lot of sports memorabilia too, including football shirts and horse racing whips. Not being too far away from Leeds we have recently framed a few Leeds United shirts and Marcello Bielsa images.”

It has been a strange past few months for the business, as it has been for many others, but Tim tells us that online art material sales picked up considerably throughout the pandemic – which comes as no surprise with many people taking up new hobbies! The company’s ambition has always been to keep business booming, and they are always looking to expand their offering in our ever changing world.

The pandemic did force some positive change into the business in other ways too: “Because of the precautions we have had to make, the area in which we used to do the framing in the gallery has now been made into a more customer friendly space which allows for social distancing, meaning that it is out of the way of other customers and is much safer, allowing customers to come in and take their time to be advised and make their choices. Bespoke framing is something that can not be done successfully online so coming into the store is essential for customers. We offer a very friendly bespoke service, so we do try to promote coming into the store when it is safe to do so.”

To see more of The Art Shops, visit their website or find them on Facebook @theartshops www.theartshops.co.uk

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428 000 167 Coastal Woods

4walls spoke to Barry Gough, founder of The Memento Group, to hear all about the exciting pieces the company is lucky enough to work with and their plans for future growth.

Life in the fast frame!

The Memento Group has been in business for 15 years now, and has an established background in the racing industry. Barry worked for many years in motorsport with some of the top F1 teams and drivers, before setting up the business.

They now have a huge focus on racing memorabilia and have achieved great success within the industry. They are the official memorabilia partner for Formula 1 around the globe and this has led to licensing agreements with a host of the teams.

The exclusive contracts they have in place allow them to get their hands on top drivers’ used items, straight after each race.

These items include racing gloves, race suits and signed pictures – which Barry tells us are by far the best sellers! The company has also recently launched unique security holograms that are included with each of the pieces, allowing the owner to track the authenticity of their racing memorabilia.

Barry says: “The business has witnessed some incredibly rapid growth over the past three years, we are going from strength to strength as we grow our international presence. We currently employ 25 people and have just moved to 40,000 sq ft premises to assist in our plans for further growth.

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“We are looking to branch out, bringing our services to other sporting industries, and next year will be launching the TMG memorabilia group, so there is a lot on the horizon for us!

“All of our newly licensed, race-used, items are my favourites, as we are bringing something new for fans to the market. For example, an item worn at the Silverstone Grand Prix can be framed and bought on f1.com the Monday after the race!

“When it comes to framing, our favourite Larson-Juhl moulding is Coastal Woods, which we use frequently and even used to frame one of Lewis Hamilton’s racing suits.”

Barry explains that having an online presence has been invaluable for the company as it grows it’s offer in the UK and overseas, it is the only way to deliver memorabilia to more than 500 million F1 fans around the world. They are currently working to grow their creative team and are always looking to produce high quality content, favouring Instagram as the preferred channel for the business.

To see more of The Memento Group’s work, follow them on Instagram and Twitter @themementogroup, or visit the website www.themementogroup.com To buy your framed piece of sports history, visit www.f1authentics.com

Virtual Excellence!

Gordon Robertson from Robertson Fine Art spoke to us all about the success of the business since its beginnings in 1986, and some of the top names he has had the pleasure of working with ever since.

“The business was originally started by my mother in ‘86 as a framing company, and the growth we witnessed in the first few years forced us to expand, eventually moving into an old industrial building which we converted into a gallery. I first got involved with the business in 2011 when we were opening up our second branch, which led us to dealing with more high end originals and work from top Scottish artists such as Gerard Burns.

“My wife Georgina and I have a strong background in digital marketing as we previously owned our own digital marketing company, so this has been a huge focus for us and is almost the only form of marketing we do nowadays. We have built our YouTube channel into our website and spread our focus across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, whilst also doing Q&As on our social channels and hosting exhibitions virtually on our website.

“When it comes to Larson-Juhl products, our favourite range is Coastal Woods, which we use on a lot of our artists’ work, including the JJ Adams pieces. The wood grain effect gives us the flexibility to hand finish the frames to clients’ specifications, so we often hand splatter the frames and have added barbed wire, nuts and bolts to them in the past!”

“We then moved to our Edinburgh unit in 2016, at which point we had signed almost every top selling artist in Scotland including Frank McFadden, alongside British artists such as JJ Adams and Kate Jade Dobson.

434 000 167 Coastal Woods

“In our Fife branch, we set up a cafe which has proved to be incredibly popular, and even won best cafe in Fife last year! The cafe has been invaluable to the business and has increased the gallery’s footfall hugely.

“Our exhibitions are always exciting, a standout for me was the JJ Adams exhibition which took place last year and welcomed around 150 people into the gallery within the first couple of hours.

We pulled out all the stops, including a DJ and a magician, and this paid off massively as we sold 80% of the originals and about 160 units in total.

To see more of Robertson Fine Art, follow them on Facebook @RobertsonFineArtEdinburgh, Twitter @Robertson_Art and Instagram @robertsonfineart, or visit the website. www.robertsonfineart.com

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CATCHING UP WITH TONY We spoke to Tony from scotframes.co.uk to learn all about how he kicked off his career in the framing industry, and how he hopes his proactivity will help see the business continue to succeed.

In terms of the business background, scotframes.co.uk initially started off as a hobby for Tony to express his more practical and creative side. An Honours graduate in Physics and Electronics Engineering, he spent over 25 years in the Electronics sector, progressing to senior corporate roles due to his organisational and people skills.

Tony tells us: “In my 40s, after 20 years in electronics I really needed a change. I started picture framing at college with a good friend, mainly for family and friends, and we worked from my garage. It then progressed into a more serious hobby, so when I finally exited the corporate world it seemed an exciting challenge to turn my hobby into a business that provided a good living.”

Tony is an old friend of Larson-Juhl’s, and appeared in Issue 10 of 4walls! He tells us that since his last interview, a lot has changed in terms of his career. When the business was formally registered, he supported the early growth period by doing two other jobs.

As an apprentice with a world-renowned life coach, he helped clients with life issues as well as working three days a week part-time with Royal Mail. He has always loved being creative and helping others, but after receiving a request for a framing quote from a UK hotel chain, scotframes.co.uk headed in a new direction.

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“The first hotel struggled with resource to hang all the frames we had produced for them, so I offered to install them. Word spread of my services and I have been very busy ever since, working with this chain and other commercial properties simultaneously for the last four years, alongside general public commissions. With this increased workload, the other two jobs had to go, enabling me to focus solely on the framing business and to meet a previous goal of providing work by employing local students.”

Over this busy period, Tony has not had to focus on attracting new business due to his increasing workload, however with commercial demand ceasing during the pandemic and unlikely to continue any time soon, he is still very keen to expand the scotframes.co.uk brand and tells us: “At the moment, I am working with someone who is teaching me all about online marketing and communications, including how to improve my social media presence to enable other revenue streams.”

When it comes to Larson-Juhl products, Tony struggles to choose one favourite range: “I work most frequently with the Coastal Woods range, as I find this to be incredibly popular with the majority of my clients.

“Anvil is a brilliant product to work with, and was very well received during a project I worked on with interior designer and TV presenter John Amabile. I was given a brief from John for decorating a bar and restaurant for which they were looking for a New York garage-grunge type of look, and Anvil was perfect for this.”

In terms of future work, Tony tells us that he continues to value customers, strives to exceed expectations and wants to modernise the perception of framing shops. He has just signed a framing deal with a successful local football club who have reached the Scottish premiership!

To see more of Tony’s work, visit the website or follow him on Instagram and Facebook @scotframes.co.uk/@scotframes www.scotframes.co.uk 291 615 Anvil

After quoting for the hotel and being selected for the job, the business began picking up pace: “The first hotel I did in Edinburgh went incredibly well, and the client loved the work complimenting my pro-activeness, professionalism and many other skills I leveraged from my senior management experience.

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TAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT! Creative Fine Art is a leading distributor of original paintings, mixed media artwork and limited edition prints. Based in Marlborough, Wiltshire the business is run

by Louise Thatcher and Rob Howe and is now in its sixth year. 4walls was fascinated to hear more about the eclectic collection of creative people that they represent – from tattoo artists to traditionalists – which makes for an awesome portfolio!

Louise explains that their offer is really focused: “Our aim is to create a unique partnership between artists and independent art galleries across the country, working closely together to bring a wealth of new and exciting artwork to their galleries. Our artwork is beautifully presented, and we provide a host of marketing materials with every painting supplied.”

Louise continues: “While we sell limited edition prints as well as originals for 30 plus artists, one of the greatest areas of growth for us is limited edition prints on canvas.

“Consumers are happy to buy limited edition prints online when they know the artist and feel confident about what they are buying. The absence of glass reduces the risks in transit, which enables galleries and the end consumer to feel confident in using our drop shipping delivery option. The consumer orders online from the gallery. We process the order, prepare and frame the artwork, and then despatch it without the gallery even seeing it.”

The popularity of this service is testament to the consistently high quality service that Louise and the team deliver, and the relationships that they have built up with their customers.

Creative Fine Art does not sell to the public. Rob spends a lot of time on the road and on the phone and while he and Louise have very much embraced the digital world and are benefitting hugely from the world of e-commerce, it is a people business.

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Legends One of Louise’s biggest success stories of the last few months is Gary Mossman and his rock star charcoal drawings. To date, there is a range of three: David Bowie, Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix. With more to follow later in the year.

very successful in the industry – accruing 20,000 followers on Instagram along the way.

Gary has a worldwide client base and a long waiting list. One man came over from Brazil to get a tattoo!

At school, Gary dropped out of every class except art. His art teacher gave him the space to create all day, every day. Lunch break was his display time and the other kids would come to view his work. Gary owes a lot to the support of his art teacher.

The most unusual tattoo that Gary has ever done was for a man who wanted ‘Rebecca’, written large, on his forehead, then he said he hoped that she would now take him back!

Gary says he was young and learning so he would tattoo anything. Now he would turn down anything so ridiculous!

After finishing school he discovered the world of tattooing. Knowing how tricky it is to become successful in the art world, he figured it could be a good career path.

He was absolutely right! Thirteen years in the profession have enabled Gary to grow his particular style of realism and become

Gary still spends half his time as a tattooist but says: “I consider tattooing to be an art form and I am very grateful to have a job I love. But my true passion has always remained in the rawness of putting charcoal to paper. To make it in the fine art world, that’s a real goal!”

George’s gorgeous artwork George Gale is another artist with a new collection of limited edition prints getting a great reception this autumn. His quirky harbour scene illustrations have a wonderful feelgood factor. Printed on canvas and framed in the white Urbane moulding from Larson-Juhl’s Collections range (432 127 000) with a white slip, these stunning images are selling incredibly well with discerning consumers.

To find out more about Gary, George and many other talented creatives such as Heather Howe, Kara Strachan and Caroline Deighton, go to www.creativefineart.co.uk or follow @creativefineart on Instagram and Facebook.

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Every framer knows how important it is to get the right equipment, and it can be daunting trying to choose the correct machine from the vast array of products available.

But fear not, we’ve spoken to Peter and Jan Stanlick from Framers Equipment, who have decades of experience in the framing equipment industry and are well-known experts.

Focus on Framing Equipment Equipment is one of the most important purchases a framer makes and there is a lot to consider before coming to a conclusion on the right equipment for your business.

Here, Peter has provided a handy list of things to think about before buying!

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nature of your business: The equipment required for bespoke framing will be entirely different to the equipment needed for production framing.

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The equipment you will need depends on whether your business is home-based, a shop, a gallery or an industrial unit.

workshop space: Space dictates which machines you are able to purchase and the services you are able to offer.

Peter added: “It is always worth considering in advance whether the machinery can meet your specific needs.

Do you need to cut large profile mouldings, hardwoods, and or plastics, for example. Framers, photographers and graphic designers should consider a hot or cold laminator and a multi-material cutter for large format work.”

Increasingly now, a customer’s first port of call is the internet and other online selling platforms advertising used equipment.

Unfortunately, the equipment often has missing parts, is damaged, or is no longer supported by the manufacturer – therefore beyond economical repair.

Framers should be extremely careful and consider their time and money before purchasing or seek professional advice.

In addition to selling equipment, Framers Equipment also runs accredited training courses covering a wide range of subjects including ‘Basic Training: Box Framing & Memorabilia’ and ‘Textiles: Conservation & Museum’ – and following the Fine Art Trade Guild Framing Standards.

Their next available training courses are the Basic Framing Course: 21st November and Textile Framing Course: 5th December. Both are available to book.

Framers Equipment was founded in 2000

by Peter and his father Tony Stanlick GCF. Peter’s brother Jan Stanlick GCF (APF) also joined the company early on – and continues to run the training side of the company as well as his own framing business Picture Hook in Norwich.

■ Available

■ M aterial:

The machines you purchase must work well with the materials you will be using.

■ Buy

the best and most versatile equipment you can afford to save future expense.

“It’s important that you get the best out of your machines,” Peter says, “and to avoid damaging your equipment, you must maintain it as per the manufacturer’s instructions on a regular basis. If you are not mechanically minded, you need to consider service training or an annual service visit to avoid machine breakdowns and loss of production. The simplest way to do this is to have the jobs listed in a diary to carry out on a regular basis.”

For more information go to www.framersequipment.co.uk

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Here are Peter’s top six equipment recommendations: 1 Morso Mitre Guillotine, or Cassese Saw: either manual or automated, will allow you to achieve consistent quality mitre cuts.

2 Cassese Underpinner, manual or automated: the Cassese patented clamp system allows you to consistently create quality joints. This is easy to set up regardless of the profile of your moulding – it is particularly important for bespoke framers to use glue.

3 Mountcutter, manual or computerised: with the ability to cut regular and thick mountboard if you like to work creatively and follow fashionable trends. We recommend the Keencut Futura or Fletcher mountcutters.

Taking delivery of another CS 200

4 Wall Mounted Multi Material Cutter: this equipment will enable you to cut glass, acrylic, backing boards and mountboards, and will possibly save you more time and space than any other piece of equipment in the workshop! Again, we recommend the Fletcher or Keencut material cutter.

5 Bambi or Hydrovane Compressor: air tools such as the compressor will speed up production and make your life considerably easier long term. For additional security, we would recommend allowing for extra air capacity to avoid additional expense at a later date.

6 Hot or Cold Roller Laminator: this machine gives you the ability to display large photographs, prints and posters – keeping them flat-mounted onto lightweight boards and can be covered with a protective film so that no glass is needed. This process is not reversible – so make sure you have the customer’s consent!

The Keencut Futura

Morso guillotines in action

19

GOODBYE TO A FRAMING LEGEND! Larson-Juhl’s Alec Rolfe has been in art and framing all his working life – so 4walls is keen to celebrate his many achievements over 54 years!

Alec’s career started in 1966 when he joined Fiehl Art in London straight from school. Fiehl specialised in reproduction paintings which involved putting prints onto canvas and putting them through a roller (which was Alec’s first job), before having brush marks painted on to make them look like oil paintings. Alec loved to watch the framers and they eventually trained him in the art of picture framing.

Once a framer, he became a customer and Derek Masters used to visit selling moulding for Arquati, which later became Arqadia and then Larson-Juhl! Then when Alec was made redundant in 1981, Derek gave him a job to work alongside two other long service stalwarts, Paulo Botrugno and Pauline Hutchinson.

Alec’s early work included making ready-made frames for the Italian Collection at Arquati, since then he has literally framed thousands of pieces of artwork and objects through the years for staff, family, friends and charities including a guitar, golf club, boxing gloves, cricket bat and hundreds of football shirts. He has also worked in the chop department, despatching samples, and helped out in the warehouse.

He has been involved with numerous exhibitions and not surprisingly, given his great work ethic, commitment and attention to detail, says:

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“It is always great to see your work on display!”

Some of Alec’s favourite jobs include the framing done for The Willow Foundation and Soundwaves as part of sponsorship arrangements.

4walls asked Alec what has changed most over the decades.

“Machinery has, of course, evolved dramatically throughout the years,” he says. “When I first started framing, I used a table top saw and would nail together the joins! Nowadays, all the automatic machines make the job a lot easier. And standards have improved hugely within the industry when it comes to preserving artwork.”

He added: “Arquati/Arqadia/Larson-Juhl has been a massive part of my life and 40 years of the happiest times of my life.”

Paulo is one of many, many colleagues who are sad to see Alec retire. He told 4walls: “I have known Alec since the day he started at Arquati UK on March 3rd 1981 and I can honestly say he has not changed from the friendly guy I met that day. One early memory that springs to mind is the gracious way he handled Italy winning the World Cup on July 11th 1982!

“It was over the next few years that the company really started to grow and its success has been due to the likes of staff such as Alec. He is somebody all people get on with and is respected as a hard working individual that cares about the contribution he makes on a daily basis.”

Moulding 314 240

Paulo also said: “I appreciate the help he has given me personally over the years and consider him as a friend more so than a colleague. I am sure his family are well proud of a father that has always led by example in his working life. I know he would love to carry on and never retire but I wish him well in his retirement as he has without doubt earned it! So thanks, Alec, and best wishes on your retirement”.

Fellow Larson-Juhl veteran Pauline Hutchinson added: “They broke the mould when they made Alec. One of the kindest, most hardworking, thoughtful and also extremely frustrating work colleagues I have ever had the pleasure to work with! Alec has always given the company 100%.

We had some laughs, for example, setting up Spring Fair where the highlight of the day after an early morning start was a full English with all the contractors in the café. That would set us up for the rest of the day. All in all a sad day for the company to see Alec retiring but with Alec’s daughter Cara (Solomon) working in Matt’s team as marketing executive, he will be kept well upto-date on all the latest Larson-Juhl news!”

21

Get Framous 2020 #GetFramous is taking a slightly different approach this year. It is now a quarterly competition – and entries for the three months from July to September are now closed! Thank you to all who have entered. We’ve seen huge variety in the submissions we have received, from Shakespeare to Ellie Goulding! – and the winner will be announced shortly on social media.

The #GetFramous initiative is intended to help bespoke framers increase their online presence, in-store footfall and customer engagement. In the framing industry, it is important to be imaginative and create extraordinary pieces, and you have delivered exactly that!

We want to take this opportunity to say a tremendous thank you to those who have entered to date and remind you that the second quarter of the competition has now begun. As we approach the Christmas period, we appreciate that we will all be busier than ever, so feel free to get entering early – either simply hashtag your posts on social media with #GetFramous or email your entries to getframous@ lasrsonjuhl.co.uk! We will be giving away £250 in Larson-Juhl vouchers to each quarterly winner, entries close for the next quarter on 31st December.

1978

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1. Falklands War battleship ensign, Ian Dixon Framing

8. Framed Chewbacca toy and child’s drawing, Easy Frame

7. Ellie Goudling recor

2. Model pirate, Zanart Framing

3. Set of 5 posters, Easy Frame

5. The Tempest, Bespoke Framing

4. Great Escape poster, Ian Dixon Framing

SHORTLIST 1. Falklands War battleship ensign, Ian Dixon Framing 2. Model pirate, Zanart Framing 3. Set of 5 posters, Easy Frame 4. Great Escape poster, Ian Dixon Framing 5. The Tempest, Bespoke Framing 6. Soldier memorabilia, Zanart Framing 7. Ellie Goudling record and tapes, Easy Frame

rd and tapes, Easy Frame

8. Framed Chewbacca toy and child’s drawing, Easy Frame 6. Soldier memorabilia, Zanart Framing

23

A New Home, a New Era Larson-Juhl recently moved into a brand new home.

In this article, 4walls puts a number of questions to managing director Jonathan Burrage about these impressive new facilities.

What were the reasons for moving to the CSC? Larson-Juhl had outgrown its previous premises in recent years and this was starting to impact on our service levels to our customers. We had extended into two additional buildings in order to deal with the volumes demanded by the trade.

What facilities are housed at the CSC? The CSC provides us with a single operations centre, focussed on every aspect of customer service. Rather than refer to our new home as Head Office, we felt that Customer Service Centre (CSC) captured the commitment and ambition of every member of the team to recognise that in every action they are serving a customer. Some may be purely focussed on internal customers (their colleagues) but at the heart of everything we do there is a need to provide the best possible output for our many external customers both domestically and across the world.

Once fully operational, we will be able to despatch customer orders faster than we ever have. This has been our key driver in this move. Lead times will shorten dramatically as we house every product under one roof. Furthermore, with all of the team working from the same state-of-the-art building, departments will be able to interact seamlessly without the historic delays caused by geographic separation. In order to accommodate all of the departments in our old facilities, we also had to operate over multiple levels in both our office and operations environments. This added further complexity and delay. The CSC brings our office based teams into a single open plan space and our operations teams all operate across a single ground floor environment. We have worked closely with an industry leading storage provider to maximise the volume we can hold in what is a smaller footprint. Operating up to heights in excess of 10 metres, we are able to hold more stock in this one facility than we could across our previous three. Our teams are currently getting used to our new facilities, operating new vehicles and managing new systems. It’s been an extremely frenetic period, managing our dayto-day operations whilst also coordinating the movement of every department into the CSC.

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How many Larson-Juhl employees work at the CSC and how are they adapting to the new facilities?

All of us! We have been focussed on ensuring we bring a multitude of different departments together to be One Team.

It might seem obvious but even the most simple change makes a big impression. Where we previously had three canteens, we now have one ‘breakout’ area. This provides a relaxing space for all colleagues whilst also enabling a more casual environment for informal meetings throughout the day. Our warehouse colleagues are enjoying a bright, purpose built working environment, operating a fantastic array of new vehicles and machinery.

What future plans have you for the CSC? Our plans for the CSC continue to evolve. Covid has given us time to re-evaluate some of our ideas, adapting to a fast changing working/living environment. Our showroom remains virtual for the time being as we prioritise the safety of our colleagues. In 2021, we will launch a new showroom environment, one that all our customers can experience and utilise to suit their own businesses. A place where they might wish to bring their own clients for a product review or host a launch event.

We are already in discussion with several of our customers, large and small, to ensure our showroom offers an adaptable space for such occasions.

We hope that all of our customers in time will have the opportunity to visit the CSC. We look forward to showing them around the new facilities as we embark on the next chapter for Larson-Juhl UK.

25

News in brief A Taste of The Smithsonian This fascinating article appeared in the world-renowned Smithsonian magazine.

You can read the full story by subscribing here Should the frame be recognised as an art form?

John Marin, the early American modernist, is best remembered for his paintings of the kinetic desert of Taos Canyon, New Mexico and the razor-sharp dimensions of Red Sun, Brooklyn Bridge. But to Martin Kotler, a frames conservator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), the frames encasing Marin’s work are just as important as the canvases inside.

Over the course of his career, Marin sought a “Blessed Equilibrium” between every painting and its frame. He worked with New York City frame maker George Of to create custom mounts, which he coated in watercolours to enhance the palette of the painting inside. Later in his career, Marin made his frames by hand, and steadily pushed his art over the edge: The black frame of Sailboat, Brooklyn Bridge, New York Skyline is streaked with silver, like the lines on a well-trafficked road.

Copyright 2020 Smithsonian Institution. Reprinted with permission from Smithsonian Enterprises. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any medium is strictly prohibited without permission from Smithsonian magazine.

Webinars Thanks to everyone for the great feedback on our webinars – which is still coming in as the first eight webinars are all available on the website. The latest session covered pricing software in partnership with Framiac. You can view all the webinars at www.larsonjuhl.co.uk.

• Pricing and upselling • All about digital marketing •F raming masterclass with Jon Price GCF (APF) •S elling from the design bench with Jo Palmer GCF (APF) Adv •D eveloping your USP with Graham Perryman •C ovid-19 business continuity with MHA accountancy • Re-opening your framing business • Interior design trends • Frame design – Jon Price GCF (APF)

SWLA sponsorship Larson-Juhl is sponsoring the Society of Wildlife Artists’ drawing competition again this year as part of The Natural Eye 2020 exhibition at Mall Galleries, from 28th October to 8th November. The initiative celebrates drawing or dry media, draughtsmanship and capturing ideas as an art form.

The 2019 competition was won by the hugely talented Wynona Legg (show image from last year’s four walls) and we can’t wait to see this year’s entries which will feature in Issue 39 of 4walls. The winner will receive £500 worth of Larson-Juhl materials. www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Designs on framing with the BCFA Our digital marketing activity has extended into the world of interior design. Consultant Alys Bryan recently ran the first Larson-Juhl CPD event for members of the British Furniture Contractors Association (BCFA) focusing on the inspirational ways in which framing can be used by interior designers in the hospitality sector and how framing can broaden a scheme’s colour, texture and material palette.

26

MIXING AND STACKING MOULDINGS (PART 2): DESIGN & TECHNIQUES

A MASTERCLASS WITH JON PRICE GCF (APF)

It’s a long time since I wrote the first article on mixing and stacking mouldings to elaborate on the new Masterclass videos which I filmed for Larson-Juhl at the start of 2020. In that article I promised to “look at the design and thinking behind the four designs in the Mixing Mouldings video, as well as any additional techniques required”. Although this follow up has been delayed for obvious reasons, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing here. To make the most of this article read Part 1 in 4walls Issue 36 available at: https://issuu.com/larson-juhl, where I explain techniques for joining frames and the rules of mixing and stacking mouldings.

Design 1 utilises mouldings from the Coastal Woods range. The 43mm wide, white stained 422000127 on the inside and the deeper 466000127 on the outside. Being of the same range and of different depths, these mouldings are perfect stacking partners. Combined with a single 8977 Bright White mount this design draws the viewer’s eye into the picture step-by-step, while the 5mm gap around the artwork provides balance by imitating the stacked mouldings.

That description makes it sound like the design was carefully planned step-bystep. It was, but let’s not be pretentious.

I selected a mount that matched the white in the artwork, chose some mouldings that would work together with the thought of offering a neutral coloured, drifty type frame and played around to see what looked good. That’s the way frame design works for me.

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422_000_127

Although I don’t believe the framing design process should be rigid, I do have a standard way of coming up with a design.

I normally choose my mounts first: selecting colours to match those in the artwork, plus suitable neutral colours.

There’s no reason you can’t do the same thing with mouldings. Of the four designs in the mixing mouldings video, I wouldn’t hesitate to offer three to my everyday customers. The fourth is a more ‘framing fantasy’ but it emphasises the point that you shouldn’t rule out stacking multiple mouldings just like you shouldn’t rule out using multiple mounts!

DESIGN 1

466_000_127

As we look towards some semblance of pre-pandemic normality many framers are extremely busy. One business owner told me “people are spending money like it’s going out of fashion”. The reassurance of lots of work coming through the door alongside people questioning their life/work priorities means it’s a good time to consider changes to our products, services and prices.

One way to justify charging more is to offer more: more service, more design, more conservation and more than the competition. Which brings me back to mixing and stacking mouldings.

As you’ll see from the video, I mitred the slip to fit under the rebate lip of the moulding and glued it into place (Image 1). Because I am relying on glue to hold the slip in position, I use masking tape to secure the slip, but only while the glue dries. The two mouldings were then stacked and joined in the normal way. As with Design 1, I used an 8977 Bright White mount. This time it’s a double mount with 3mm of the second mount showing.

The Confetti 140653 White and the 140643 Sky Blue work well as a double stack (Image 2). However, the blue is strong and the addition of the 3346WH tones it down so that it is balanced with the white. Previously I’ve talked about how David Wilkie GCF prescribes weight to mount colours, with a narrow dark mount having the same weight as a wide cream mount. The wider area of white moulding and the narrower central blue in this design are an example of that same concept applied to the moulding.

DESIGN 2

IMAGE 1

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140_127_000

DESIGN 3

140_643

140_653

385_200_000

Design 3 utilises two mouldings from the Confetti range and 3346WH on the outside.

The 3346WH matches the white Confetti in colour and both other mouldings in texture and finish, so they were always likely to stack together well. This print has so many colours in it that it’s hard to introduce colour into the frame design without unbalancing it. The obvious choice to bring balance to the force was blue which is dominant throughout the image.

279_811_481

205_749_481

As Design 2 illustrates, I often use mount fillets as slips under the rebate lip of the frame rather than around the window aperture of a mount. As with the first design, I’ve opted for a coastal feel.

This time by using the Andover range.

My pseudo slip 205749481 and the 279811481 moulding have a smooth white finish along with pin lines of the base pine showing at the top of the bevelled rebate lip and, in the case of the moulding, also on the outside edge of the face. I decided to make more of that by adding a similar coloured wood moulding between the two. Although the 385200000 moulding is an oak, it works well with the pine of the Andover because there is such as small amount of that pine showing and the two woods are separated by the white. This is an exception to the rule that mouldings with different finishes don’t work well together. As with mount design, you can sometimes use colours, or in this case grains and textures, that don’t quite match by separating them.

IMAGE 2

DESIGN 4

IMAGE 3

Design 4 is intentionally over the top but I hope it makes the point that you shouldn’t limit yourself either when stacking mouldings or with the number of mounts used. Four mounts or five mouldings works in some designs. So, why on earth aren’t you suggesting them? Because the customer who just pulled up in a brand new Mercedes can’t afford it? What a load of ‘offcuts’!

This final design uses six different coloured Confetti mouldings, matching almost every colour in the image. There’s no arguing that the frame dominates the picture. However, the inner white moulding means the colours are less dominant than if they were straight up against the image and the outer (3346WH) and inner whites offer balance.

The only mount I liked with this design was no mount. Which meant I had to space the artwork away from the glazing another way. I used spacers which sit under the lip of the frame and separate the glazing from the artwork. I usually make my own spacers from foam/mountboard. I ‘face’ a piece of foamboard by gluing mountboard to it.

Having worked out how deep I want my spacers to be, I cut my foam/mountboard accordingly. I then trim them to the exact length of the inner rebate of the frame.

The spacers for the top and bottom of the frame should be cut first to the full length of the top/bottom rebates and the left and right spacers cut to the length of their rebates, minus the thickness of the top and bottom spacers. This means the side spacers will help hold the top and bottom spacers in position (see Image 3). I glue the spacers in place and the foam/mountboard together with Evacon R, a pH neutral adhesive available from Larson-Juhl.

There you have it ‘one piece of art, four moulding designs’. I hope you find these new Masterclass videos inspirational and that they encourage you to mix mouldings, use more than two mounts and above all be creative. That’s what makes our profession enjoyable and satisfying. It’s the sum of all the parts – the artwork and frame together can be so much more than either one on their own.

130_641_000

130_640_000

130_637_000

130_635_000

130_634_000

130_632_000

Customers will pay for that creativity and for framing that stands out. Like I say ‘offer more’: more service, more design, more conservation and more than the competition.

Jon Price GCF(APF) owns Handmade Framing and Gallery in North Cornwall.

He sits on the Fine Art Trade Guild’s Framing Standards and Qualification Committee and has framed the works of world renowned artists, photographers and designers. Jon offers a framing consultancy service, so if you need help and advice on any aspect of framing or running a framing business don’t hesitate to contact him. www.handmadepictureframing.co.uk

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Ask the experts... how to frame a map

Question

You will need:

I have a valuable map to frame but it needs to be floated so, whilst I could use hinges, I wondered if there was an alternative method which fits the bill?

■ M useum

mountboard for the top mount and undermount

■ A

sheet of mylar - also known as melinex - or Polyester sheet (available from Conservation by Design or online)

Answer Good question! And, fortunately, I have an answer which may help you. I have had to use this technique on a few valuable maps and I know that it is totally safe, reversible and appropriate.

■

A sharp scalpel, pencil and ruler

■ Strong

Conservation hinging tape or gummed tape (which is on the back of the board and not touching the artwork).

Method:

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1.

C alculate the size of your top mount/s allowing for a space around the map.

Cut a second piece of board onto which the map will sit.

2.

U sing your cut mount as a guide, lay the map onto the undermount and measure carefully to get the correct position. A lot of old maps are not square, so bear this in mind when calculating the space you want to show around the edge. The bigger the space, the less obvious it is.

3.

sing a very fine pencil carefully mark U in the corners (this will be erased later).

4.

R emoving the map, carefully and very lightly extend the corner lines about 7.5cm.

5.

U sing a scalpel, cut strips of mylar about 5mm wide and 15cm long.

6.

n the pencil line, in each direction, O measure 7cm from the corner and lightly mark; and then mark again at 8cm. The area between 7cm and 8cm is to be very carefully cut with a scalpel.

The idea is that you are making a fine slit into which the polyester strip will be fitted. Even though the strip is only 5mm wide you double that measurement to take account of the angle at which this the strip is placed.

See photograph. If you use wider strips, remember to double up for the slits.

7.

E rase all pencil marks. It would be nice to be able to do this on the back of the board but because all maps are not square you would end up with the map in the wrong position.

8.

Feed a strip through the two slits in each corner and fix firmly onto the back of the board using a strong conservation hinging tape. Ensure that the strip is laying completely flat before securing.

9.

Turn the mountboard over and carefully slide the map into each corner strip (see photograph).

10. I f additional spacing is required to avoid the glass touching, place another mount or mount strips beneath the top mount as seen in the photograph of the completed map.

Final Note The strips are visible but not invasive.

Most importantly, they support the artwork and are totally inert.

Lyn Hall GCF (APF) Adv International Framer/Trainer www.fringearts.co.uk

Days to keep in mind................

8th November – Remembrance Sunday: Remembrance Sunday is a day to show our appreciation for those who fought for our country. Consider showing your support by raising money for a charity such as The Royal British Legion, either by selling poppies in your shop or even offering a discount to veterans. You can also use the hashtags #PoppyAppeal and #lestweforget to show your support on social media.

30th November – St. Andrew’s Day:

December – Festive Season:

St. Andrew’s Day is definitely the day to celebrate Scottish art and artists. Our favourites include the wonderful Scott Naismith, Frances Salvesen and Angus Wilson. If you can, also use Scottish artwork in your displays or decorate using tartan to commemorate the Scottish holiday.

Encourage your customers to make their loved ones feel extra special this year with a framed gift. Whether it’s a child’s drawing, a family photo or a pet portrait, a framed gift is sure to brighten their day and is a gift that they will treasure for a lifetime.

You can also make the most of the festive season by posting Christmas related content on your social media channels throughout December, this ensures that your customers have you in mind when shopping for the perfect gifts! And remember, inform customers of your last dates for guaranteed delivery to avoid losing potential business!

January – New Year:

Vizsla, Penny Garvin

Hopefully your customers will have had a fantastic Christmas and will have lots of festive photographs to frame as gifts, or for their own homes! Friends and family will feel more precious this year than ever before, so make sure that your customers think of you to preserve their special moments.

27th November – Black Friday: Black Friday is one of the biggest days of the shopping calendar and is worth its weight in gold. Join in on the excitement by advertising deals in advance and using the hashtag #blackfriday to reach customers looking for a deal.

28th November – Small Business Saturday: This is an important day of the year for many framers. Use this day to remind customers that supporting small businesses is a great way to give back to the community, but not only that, be proud of yourselves for what you have achieved!

Use the hashtag #smallbusinesssaturday to achieve even greater things.

Loch Leven, Scott Naismith

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There’s no place like Rome.

Introducing new Micro-tech Italian Veneers.

Composed of high quality, high specification raw materials and combined with Italian technical innovation and efficiency.

Designed with both current mass market trends and tones in decor in mind, whilst also being extremely cost effective. The features and benefits of our Micro-tech veneers eliminate many of the shortfalls experienced with other mouldings in this space, and set a new benchmark for the category.

With truer, longer lasting colours, these veneers are superb to the touch, and have high quality finger jointed pine substrate.

Every veneer in the range also features an exceptional adhesive layer and bond locking primer coat. larsonjuhl.co.uk | 01234 852777

Ref 999001050/0720