Passion proves profitable: one custom framer indulges in her passion for French matting and antique prints while passing on the tradition - Lynn Curran

Art Business News, Sept, 2002 by Ellen Sturm

Sometimes it takes a while to find one's true calling in life, and such was the case for Lynn Curran, partner of Curran & Smith, a Pottsville, Pa., business specializing in custom matting and framing of antique prints and fine reproductions. After a career as a teacher and mother, Curran started a small decorating business 30 years ago. "I have an eye for color and design and thought I would like to expand it beyond my own use," she said. But it wasn't until 1983, when she was introduced to French matting, that Curran discovered her true passion. From 1984, when she first opened her matting and framing business, to the present, her business' name and partners have changed, but her love for matting has remained constant.

Sometimes one's passions are cut short and new ones have to be developed, which is proving true for Curran's new business partner, Neil Smith, who is also Curran's son-in-law. A native of England, Smith was a professional raquets (the game from which squash is derived) player and coach, who won the Raquets World Singles Champion title in 1999. But later that year, an eye injury forced him into early retirement. Although Smith continued play in some tournaments and coach the sport, he began looking for a new direction. At the time, Lynn was looking for a new partner, so Smith joined the business in April 2001, impressed by Curran's attractive creations.

Team Effort

Together, Curran and Smith are maintaining the quality that Curran has developed over the last 18 years. They hand-apply all of the lines, washes and papers to museum-quality, acid-free materials. They keep a large variety of moulding in stock and can provide hand-carved frames. Curran & Smith also offers clients a library of 3,000 antique prints, including works from John James Audubon, Elizabeth Blackwell, Jane Loudon and W.H. Pyne. Curran said she prefers to work with antique prints because "the paper is hand-made and hand-painted, giving it a depth of character you can't get with reproductions," she said. "And the better the print, the better the mat and frame." They also do special print searches for clients and mat and frame prints provided by clients.

The duo is continuing the relationships Curran has cultivated with interior designers over the years. In fact, the bulk of Curran & Smith's business comes from out-of-town interior designers from New York, Connecticut and Philadelphia, who refer their clients to Curran & Smith for their matting and framing needs. Curran said she developed these relationships by showing interior designers her work, doing a good job on the projects for them and building trust. Curran and Smith not only match a frame with a print but also customize the look in a particular room or throughout a client's house, coordinating the mouldings, marbled papers, painted lines and color washes to blend with fabric, wallpaper and paint colors in the home.

Curran and Smith, however, divide their business according to their interests and expertise. While they both do everything from marketing to matting and framing, they each work out of separate studios and on their individual specializations.

Master at Work

Curran has a studio in her turn-of-the-century Georgian home, which she is restoring, in Pottsville. "I like to get up very early, sometimes at 4 a.m.," she said. "So it makes sense for me to work from home rather than go to a studio downtown." She prefers to use high-end mats and frames and antique prints from her collection, which blend perfectly with her love of French matting, which is her focus.

Curran, who has degrees in fashion design and education, first learned about French matting from a former college roommate who learned the technique at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The friend taught Curran and then suggested she take a course with Hugh Phibbs, chief archivist at the National Gallery. One night a week for six weeks Curran learned from Phibbs how to do the arduous, 20-step process. French matting, which is not really French, is traditionally used for antique prints and involves matting with parallel lines and marble washes to pull the print and the mat design together. "Any one of those things can go wrong," Curran said. "There are only four or five designs that work for a print. You have to have the right proportions, spacing and color. If it's too busy, it can take away from the print, and it should enhance the print, not take away from it." After learning French matting, Curran took a 10-day course at a framing school in Birmingham, Ala. With that instruction and 18 years of experience, Curran said she now has an eye for what will work.

Curran chooses to use her expertise on more decorative, high-end work like botanicals and silk mats. An interior designer recently referred Curran to mat and frame 41 pieces for a Manhattan apartment. Curran and Smith collaborated on the project, helping the apartment owner, for whom money was no object, choose botanical, hummingbird and perennial scenes of British manors from their collection of antique prints. The team also special ordered several prints. The apartment was done in "old English colors" like roses, ochres, greens and other muted shades, so Curran and Smith worked to match the mats and frames to the decor. The final creations cost from $500 to $3,000 apiece.