Framing
in
30 Minutes
Anyone visiting
Madrid should wander along the elegant shopping street Velazquez 24
and take a look at FANN. The first thing that strikes you on entering
this spacious shop is the conspicuous sign announcing, “Your
picture will
be framed in 30 minutes.” When they are really busy, the sign
is changed to read 45 minutes. With a staff of 20, Manager Gloria
Hernando runs a very slick operation. Four serving counters, each
with a computer and a set of mountboard corners, stand in front of
a wall of 250 mouldings. All orders are entered on the computer
and the customer is told when the job will be ready, so they can choose
to continue shopping outside or to relax with a coffee and a magazine
on the lower level. The workshop is immaculate at all times and stays
so because it is on full view to the public, who are even allowed
to enter the working area if they wish. All the well-known names are
there, including Valiani, Omga, System 4000, Alfamacchine,
Minigraf 44 and Colourmount
although, surprisingly, there is no oval cutter in the workshop.
In the centre of the workshop is a huge workbench, five by two metres
and custom built with storage for all the D rings, screw eyes, tools,
staples and other finishing equipment. One nice touch we noticed was
the display of up-market photo frames which were displayed in a long
row of wicker baskets and which
somehow looked much better than a conventional display on a shelf.
The feeling you get in FANN is
one of “How can we help you to make your home or office a nicer
place?” Perhaps it is the open-plan layout of the workshop and
the relaxing coffee area but it does give
you a feeling that is not always apparent in a regular frame shop.
For those with time to spare, cross the road to Velazquez 43 and take
a look at P.E.A. This is the place that frames many of the pictures
in the Prado art museum and is definitely worth a visit. In P.E.A.’s
back room is a stunning exhibition of antique frames - but that is
a story for the next issue of In The Frame. |
 |
 Going
round in circles!
Terry
Jackman, Guild Commended Framer and teacher, helps us to understand
colour using techniques taken from the fashion business but just
as applicable to framing.
If colour makes you dizzy, a colour wheel can help you regain control.
Until a fabric designer showed me how she used one, I hadn’t
thought much of them. But I have found that a colour wheel will
let you use your mount board range in a well-organised manner. So
you can take a look at what you have, and compare it with what you
need.
If you have half an hour to spare, a clear worktop and pieces of
all your current colours (chevrons or small off-cuts, it doesn’t
matter) then you can produce your own colour wheel. Try treating
colour as a game to play, rather than a problem to solve. That makes
it more fun as well. This simple exercise may help.
First, take all the blacks, greys, creams and whites and put them
to one side. That’s just to make it easier.
Now take a red, a yellow and a blue, and place them so that they
will divide your eventual circle into three segments. All you have
to do now is arrange the rest in their natural order, so yellow
blends into orange, into red, onto purples, into blues, then green
and so back to yellow.
You may be surprised how carefully you need to think about some
of the colours. Don’t let the original three colours wander
closer together - it’s important to keep the basic colours
in their original places.
Now you have your colour wheel, let’s look at how you should
use it:
1. Are your colours evenly spread around the circle? If so, you
cater equally for all the colour groups, suggesting that you not
only enjoy working with colour but you will have little trouble
coping with most of yourcustomers’ needs. You have, literally,
covered all the bases. The sting in the tail of this compliment
is a thought about the size of your range. If you use 50 colours,
or less, it may be balanced, but it’s probably very ‘safe’,
and that could be a warning at a time when trends are not. Perhaps
you should consider spreading your wings?
2. Is one portion of your wheel fuller than the others? Dare I ask,
is that where the greens are? To put it bluntly, any framer who
still relies on green for everything isn’t just out of date,
but likely to be out of work once the competition catch on. Whichever
colour group you’re short of, ask yourself if you really have
the narrow market that this suggests. If so, do you want it to be
wider? You could be missing opportunities.
3. Are all or most of your colours either light, or dark? If they’re
mainly dark, do you overwhelm the art with heavy mounts, or are
they there just as accents, or undermounts?
(Or do you deal only with dark, traditional, gentleman’s club
style artwork?). If they’re Mainly light, are you being a bit
too cautious? The next question might help you decide.
4. Is there a nice scattering of brighter colours right round your
wheel? If all your colours are pastels and darks you’re missing
out on a lot of fun, and a lot of profit. There’s a real
market for strong accents, since all those interior designers took
over our lives. Adding brights to your range can seriously
damage your customers’ wallets!
When you’ve studied your wheel as it stands, you should think
about what it tells you about your colour capability and how positively
you approach the use of colour.
If you can then use these thoughts to improve your colour offering,
you’ll have more fun and maybe even make more money.
Make
life easier
A neat idea that we have seen in quite a number of frame shops
is to make your own colour dividers. By using Colourmount board to
make corners larger than the corner samples provided, you can easily
sort the set of corners into groups of similar colours or types of
board.
Our picture shows how easy it then is to find the colour group you
need when with a customer. |
