Framing outside the lines: welcome to the world of "extreme framing," where custom framers create extraordinary frames for their most daring customers

Art Business News, March, 2004 by Tricia Bisoux

At Wall Street Gallery in Madison, Conn., and Katayama Framing in Portland, Ore., there are two distinct types of framing. There are the traditional frames that use conventional moulding profiles and straightforward techniques. And then there are those frames that Wall Street Gallery's staff call "extreme" They are the eye-catching, almost startling, frames that are perfect for customers who aren't afraid to make a statement. And while some extreme designs aren't for the creatively timid, they offer framers the opportunity to stretch their imaginations, take a few risks and sharpen their skills.

More important, catering to customers with unconventional requirements can afford a frame shop a special edge in a competitive market. By going to extremes, framers can forge reputations for the unusual that customers simply won't--and often can't--forget.

An Unusual Niche

Of course, customers seeking the perfect guillotine-themed or plumbing-accessorized frames don't walk into the frame shop every day. That is, they don't unless the frame shop deliberately cultivates an "anything-goes" reputation. In that case, attracting this niche market can be a self-fulfilling proposition. Once customers see what kinds of designs are possible, wild ideas tend to come into the shop more frequently, said Dennis Katayama.

"Some customers want some strange and wonderful things," said Katayama, who has owned Katayama Framing with partner Marilyn Murdoch since 1971. "Others may first come to us for a relatively simple, clean design. Then, they might choose a simple design with a twist. Then, they want a little bit more and a little bit more. Pretty soon, they're willing to try something totally unique."

Katayama Framing makes many of its mouldings and frames by hand, carving them from raw woods and finishing them by hand. While Katayama estimates that unconventional frame designs comprise between five to 10 percent of his business, those are the frames that often catch the attention of Portland collectors.

"Portland is a relatively small market, with only about one million people in the metropolitan area," said Katayama. "To support our business, we promote ourselves as one of the only frame shops that will actually make a one-off frame for a customer."

The owners of Wall Street Gallery--Jack Caldwell, Jim Reinhart and Bob Kreutler--have a similar reputation in the Madison community. They take on unusual flaming projects simply for the fun of it.

"After 25 years of flaming, we didn't want to do the same thing anymore," said Caldwell. "We come up with a lot of crazy designs--some of the best will hit you in the middle of the night. Now it's those fun jobs that we're really promoting at this point. Those are the jobs we really look forward to."

A Chance to Experiment

One advantage of extreme frame designs is that they often appear more difficult--and more expensive--to customers than they actually are. "Many people look at our frames and think they were very difficult to make. But for us, they were fairly simple," Caldwell said.

"We often pretty much wing it," he added. "With this type of framing, you can correct yourself many times. If it doesn't come out right the first time, we can just sand it down and start over."

One of Caldwell's favorite frames was one he created for a poster image of a gentleman standing on a stack of hooks, gazing over a city. Inspiration for the design hit him immediately, he said, and the final treatment--a "book" frame--was particularly fitting for the image.

"We had been experimenting with crackle finishes at the time, and I had created a finish that looked like cracked leather," Caldwell explained. "So, I made a regular square frame and put a binding on the left edge of it and applied the cracked finish. I used a router to recess the edges of the frame to make it look as if there were pages inside."

In fact, the ability to experiment and discover new techniques is one of the best things about tackling unconventional flaming projects, Caldwell pointed out.

"We've now done it long enough that we can often tell where we want to go with a project," he noted. But much of that experience, he added, has come from just jumping into an idea and seeing what happened.

Collaborative Design

For some projects, customers simply trust these framers to surprise them with an impressive design. More complex projects, however, require several conversations with the customer to arrive at the perfect design.

In fact, customers often make several visits to the shop for planning sessions and to see the works in progress. After all, extreme projects represent a higher risk to a framer, so it's important to make sure the customer is satisfied with the work at all stages of design, advised Katayama.

For example, Katayama recently completed one of his more memorable projects, a frame for a 1950s themed painting by artist Todd Shore. The painting depicts a chorus of characters, including 1950s car designer and comic book artist, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, in the guise of the Bob's Big Boy restaurant mascot. Around him are several of his comic monster creations, including his most famous, Rat Fink.