Keeping it in the family

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.

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!”

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 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.”

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