Auctions & Collecting · The Worldwide Guide
THE WORLD'S FRAME HOUSES
Eighteen houses, verified one by one: the ateliers and restorers to whom the world's museums, galleries, auction houses and collectors entrust the frames of consequential pictures — from an Amsterdam firm of 1845 whose New York branch reframed American modernism, to the Florentine bottega that carved the replacement frame for a bomb-damaged Rubens — together with, labelled plainly as context, the two giants that define the industry's scale. Clientele is printed only as each house publishes it; where a title, a client or a figure is not published, this guide says so.
THE FRAME IS HALF THE PICTURE
A great painting in the wrong frame is a sentence with the wrong punctuation. The houses in this guide are the ones the art world trusts to get the punctuation right: Eli Wilner, whose hand-carved replica of the lost frame for Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware — twelve by twenty-one feet, eagle and all — is the centrepiece of the Met's American Wing; Lowy, framing and conserving in New York since 1907; Arnold Wiggins & Sons, picture framers to the Royal Collection by warrant since 1955; Werner Murrer Rahmen in Munich, which keeps an archive of more than 100,000 photographs so that a museum can rebuild the exact frame an Expressionist chose a century ago; and in Florence, the Maselli family, whose gilded replacement frame healed the Uffizi's Niobe Room after the Georgofili bombing.
Framing belongs in LIKE®'s Auctions & Collecting department because the frame is where the collecting ecosystem meets: Christie's and Sotheby's commission frames from these houses, insure through the same names, borrow frames for their great sales, and sell pictures whose value a period frame measurably protects. The full guide — with sources for every field — is published as a LIKE® Magazine PDF and data file alongside this article.
HOW TO READ THE GUIDE
Clientele is printed only as published. Institutions are named solely where the framer itself names them — Wilner's White House and Met projects, Wiggins' Royal Warrant, Murrer's museum reframings. Where a house publishes no client list (A.P.F. Munn, J. Pocker, Goldleaf of Santa Fe), the entry says so; no museum client has been invented for anyone. Titles differ by country and trade — a Munich Geschäftsführer, a Viennese master artisan certified by examination, a New York president — and each is printed exactly as published, never normalised. The two context entries are labelled in their category, their history and their access route: Larson-Juhl, the Berkshire Hathaway manufacturer-wholesaler whose mouldings fill most independent frame shops, and Michaels Custom Framing, North America's retail giant, are the scale against which the sixteen ateliers are the exception — and the tier is honestly small: eighteen is the whole defensible worldwide roster at this standard, printed at its true size.
NEW YORK — THE PERIOD-FRAME CAPITAL
1. Eli Wilner & Co.
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: United States
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 1983
History: Founded in New York in 1983 by Eli Wilner, the gallery that taught the American art world to look at the frame: a dealer, restorer and maker of antique American and European frames whose exhibitions and books (including The Gilded Edge) made period framing a collecting field in itself.
Ownership: Founder-owned — Eli Wilner, founder (no outside owner published; verified October 2026 from house sources)
Leadership: Eli Wilner, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (house biography); Suzanne Smeaton, Gallery Director (house biography)
What It Does / How It Works: Period framing conducted as scholarship: each selection is drawn from an inventory of more than 3,500 original antique frames, matched by period and by the artist's own known framing preferences; where no antique frame serves, a replica is made one at a time — carved, gilded and patinated by hand in the house's 10,000-square-foot studio — and antique frames are restored for collectors and institutions, including under preferred-provider arrangements with fine-art insurers AXA and Chubb as published by the house
Specialties: Antique American and European period frames (15th century to the present in the house's range); hand-carved and gilded replica frames; antique frame restoration and conservation; frame evaluation and appraisal (the house helped create the Appraisers Association of America's antique-frame certification)
Clientele (as published): As published by the house: The White House (28 paintings framed, including the Childe Hassam that hangs in the Oval Office), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Yale University Art Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the house has loaned several hundred frames for Old Master and 19th-century sales at Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams and Doyle (house biography)
Workshops / Locations: New York gallery and studio — 1525 York Avenue, Upper East Side (gallery open Monday–Friday in house listings)
Scale Figures: Over 15,000 framing projects completed (house, current site); inventory of more than 3,500 antique frames (house); an atelier team of thirty artisans, including 15 frame conservators, was stated in earlier house releases
Website: https://eliwilner.com
Contact Route: info@eliwilner.com and the contact form via eliwilner.com
Phone: +1 212 744 6521
HQ Address: 1525 York Avenue, New York, NY 10028, United States
Distinctiveness: The replica of the lost original frame for Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware at the Met — over 12 by 21 feet, surmounted by a twelve-foot carved eagle, flags and regalia — is the most famous single frame made in modern America, and it is this house's work
Access / Entry Route: Collectors and institutions consult the gallery directly, in person on York Avenue or by correspondence; the house advises on period-correct selection from stock, undertakes replicas to commission, and lends frames for exhibition and sale-room use
Notes: Founded date and founder-CEO title are the house's own. The White House and Met projects are stated by the house and widely reported
Sources: eliwilner.com (about page, house biography and project pages, 2026); Crozier Fine Arts interview with Eli Wilner (contact details as published there)
2. Lowy (Julius Lowy Frame & Restoring Co.)
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: United States
Headquarters: New York (Long Island City), United States
Founded: 1907
History: Founded in New York in 1907 by Julius Lowy, whose small shop at 56th Street and Sixth Avenue served dealers, collectors and museums; the Shar family's Shar-Sisto firm merged with Lowy in 1956, and three generations of Shars have run it since — America's oldest and largest fine-arts services firm in its own description.
Ownership: The Shar family (family-run, per the house) — no outside owner published; verified October 2026
Leadership: Larry Shar, President; Brad Shar, Vice President and General Manager (house profile). A February 2026 house article caption also styles Brad Shar as President — a succession in progress is flagged here rather than resolved; Tracy Shar serves as Registrar
What It Does / How It Works: A full fine-arts service under one roof: framing consultation from an antique-frame inventory the house puts at 5,000 pieces and counting, hand-carved reproduction frames, and a conservation studio for paintings and works on paper that begins every commission with condition analysis under ultraviolet light. Its proprietary LowyScan system digitises the frame inventory so a painting can be matched against frames remotely, with digital mock-ups sent to clients
Specialties: Antique, period and modern frames; hand-carved custom reproduction frames; water and oil gilding by in-house master gilders; carving; conservation of paintings and works on paper; frame restoration; digital frame-matching (LowyScan)
Clientele (as published): As published in house materials: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art; auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's; galleries including Wildenstein & Co., Acquavella and Hirschl & Adler (house exhibition biography)
Workshops / Locations: Long Island City, Queens — studio and showroom at 43-14 37th Street (the firm moved from its six-storey Upper East Side townhouse; the Long Island City address is the house's current published address)
Scale Figures: Antique-frame inventory of 5,000 pieces and counting, described by the house as the largest collection of antique frames in the United States; staff and turnover figures: not published
Website: https://www.lowy1907.com
Contact Route: info@lowy1907.com and the contact route via lowy1907.com
Phone: +1 212 861 8585
HQ Address: 43-14 37th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101, United States
Distinctiveness: The frame house as picture doctor: conservators, carvers, gilders and photographers in one firm since 1907, holding what it describes as America's largest antique-frame collection and matching it to paintings by software as readily as by eye
Access / Entry Route: Private collectors, museums, galleries and advisors consult the house directly or online — most framing consultations now begin with LowyScan digital mock-ups before a frame is chosen; conservation commissions begin with a condition assessment
Notes: The Brad Shar title discrepancy appears within the house's own 2026-updated materials and is flagged in the leadership field. The Long Island City move is stated on the house site and in New York coverage of the firm
Sources: lowy1907.com (house history and framing/conservation profile, updated 2026); Lowy exhibition biography via Whom You Know (house-supplied text); Manhattan Sideways visit report
3. Bark Frameworks
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: United States
Headquarters: New York (Long Island City), United States
Founded: 1969
History: Founded in 1969 by the artist Jared (Jed) Bark, who began framing for fellow artists in his SoHo loft; the firm grew loft by loft, left SoHo for Long Island City in 1999, and became the museum world's workshop for framing Impressionism and everything after it.
Ownership: 100% employee-owned (ESOP) since 2017 — house press release, verified October 2026
Leadership: Susan Fisher, Chief Executive Officer (appointed December 2020, house press release); Jared Bark, founder, currently Chairman of the Board (house staff page)
What It Does / How It Works: Every frame is designed, built and finished in-house: a consultation starts with the art — including, for historic works, archival research into the artist's own framing preferences (the firm's Degas and van Gogh research with the Brooklyn Museum has been published in scholarly journals) — and proceeds through design and preservation studios, woodshop, metal shop and gilding studio, with condition reports kept on file. Typical turnaround is two to four weeks, longer for extensive gilding or millwork (Franklin Report profile)
Specialties: Museum-quality preservation (conservation) framing; Impressionist, modern and contemporary frames; welded metal and milled wood profiles; gilding; framing for works on paper, photographs, textiles and thangkas; art crating, installation and storage services
Clientele (as published): As published in the house's own press release: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum and LACMA among museums; Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace and Matthew Marks among galleries
Workshops / Locations: Long Island City, Queens — the house states a 27,000-square-foot facility with two showrooms; in November 2025 it signed for a new Long Island City home at 42-45 12th Street (17,500 square feet, Commercial Observer), the address its site now publishes
Scale Figures: 27,000-square-foot facility as stated by the house (its new premises are leased at 17,500 square feet — both figures printed with their sources); staff and turnover figures: not published
Website: https://barkframeworks.com
Contact Route: Appointment scheduling and contact form via barkframeworks.com (Plan Your Visit / Schedule an Appointment)
Phone: +1 718 752 1919
HQ Address: 42-45 12th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101, United States
Distinctiveness: The artist-founded, employee-owned workshop: the firm that codified modern preservation framing for American museums, still run on its founder's rule — start with the art
Access / Entry Route: By appointment at the Long Island City facility, Monday–Friday; museums, galleries, artists and private collectors commission directly, and a Bark design session is the standard first step
Notes: The facility-size figures differ between the house site (27,000 sq ft) and the 2025 lease report for the new building (17,500 sq ft); both are printed and sourced rather than reconciled by guesswork
Sources: barkframeworks.com (house pages, staff page and CEO appointment press release, 2020); Commercial Observer on the 2025 Long Island City lease; Franklin Report profile
4. A.P.F. Munn
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: United States
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 1955 (APF lineage); 1959 (Munn Frames); merged as A.P.F. Munn in 2004
History: In 1955 Abe Munn co-founded APF with his brothers Morris and Ben after training with two masters of the New York trade, Julius Lowy and Robert Kulicke; in 1959 he opened Abe Munn Picture Frames, which grew into carved frames and hand-laid gold-leaf finishes. In 2004 the two firms merged as APF Munn and APF Master Frame Makers — the APF/Munn lineage is the New York closed-corner tradition carried into one house.
Ownership: Private, Munn-family lineage (no outside owner published; verified October 2026 from available sources)
Leadership: A current named chief executive is not published on the house's own site in sources checked — named gap. Company-profile listings (CB Insights) report Max Munn as Chief Executive Officer of the APF group; printed as a profile attribution, not a house-published title
What It Does / How It Works: Handcrafted closed-corner frames and mirrors made to commission: clients choose from more than 2,000 corner samples in the midtown showroom — styles from the 15th-century Italian Renaissance to the present day — and the frame is built in the house's production facility using techniques developed by Abe Munn and still in use, including hand-laid gold leaf
Specialties: Closed-corner handcrafted frames; specialty carved frames; hand-laid gold-leaf finishes; period styles from Renaissance to contemporary; luxury mirrors; antique frame restoration
Clientele (as published): The house does not publish a named client list in sources checked — named gap. Company profiles describe its clientele as galleries, artists, museums, exhibitions and the hospitality industry (CB Insights profile), printed here as a profile description, not a house claim of named institutions
Workshops / Locations: Showroom at 215 East 59th Street, Manhattan; a 52,000-square-foot production facility in Yonkers, New York (house history as reported in Aspire)
Scale Figures: 52,000-square-foot production facility (reported); more than 2,000 corner samples in the showroom (reported). Staff and turnover figures: not published
Website: https://apfmunn.com
Contact Route: Showroom contact route via apfmunn.com
Phone: +1 212 308 6152
HQ Address: 215 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022, United States (showroom); production facility in Yonkers, New York
Distinctiveness: Lineage as credential: one house that unites two of the post-war New York frame firms — APF and Munn — both descended from the Lowy and Kulicke workshops, and still making closed-corner frames the hand way at industrial scale
Access / Entry Route: Retail and trade clients commission through the East 59th Street showroom, choosing from the corner-sample library; mirrors and frames are made to order in Yonkers
Notes: The leadership and clientele gaps are deliberate: the house publishes its craft and its premises, not its officers or its client names, and this guide does not fill those silences from inference
Sources: Aspire Design and Home on the APF Munn history (house account); apfmunn.com and its published showroom listing; CB Insights company profile (leadership and clientele descriptions, flagged as profile-sourced)
5. The House of Heydenryk
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: United States (founded in the Netherlands)
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 1845 (Amsterdam); New York branch 1936
History: Founded in Amsterdam in 1845, Heydenryk (Heijdenrijk) employed Holland's finest gilders and carvers, amassed one of the country's great antique-frame collections, and by the mid-20th century stood among the world's most prestigious picture-frame companies. In 1936 Henry Heydenryk Jr., the fourth generation, opened in Manhattan — importing at first, then designing the new mouldings and finishes (the wormy chestnut frame, 1938) that made the New York house a separate creative entity and the framer of the American modernists.
Ownership: Private — the New York house became a separate entity from the European branch (house history); a current owner is not published in sources checked — verified October 2026
Leadership: David Mandel, President (named as 'the current president' on the house's own clientele page, in a testimonial the house publishes; the page is undated and the title's vintage is flagged). Henry Heydenryk Jr. (1905–1994) was the founding president of the New York house
What It Does / How It Works: Period frames supplied, adapted and made to order from one of America's largest antique-frame inventories — including the Garbisch collection of American folk-art frames, acquired entire in 1980 — together with reproductions in 15th- to 18th-century styles, original Heydenryk designs still made in the present-day shop (the Marsden Hartley Model 385 among them), and full restoration of frames and artworks
Specialties: Antique and period frames; hand-carved reproductions; wormy chestnut and artist-named mouldings (Hartley, Rouault, Klee, Mondrian designs); frames for Old Master, Impressionist, modern and contemporary painting; mirror frames; frame and artwork restoration
Clientele (as published): As published by the house: in Europe, the Tate, the National Gallery (London) and the Rijksmuseum, and the firm supervised and provided all framing for the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; in America, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (an earliest client), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, the Whitney, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art (which appointed Henry Heydenryk Jr. its official frame consultant in the 1970s) and the White House, among many named on the house's history page
Workshops / Locations: New York (Manhattan showroom and workshop; the house historically occupied a five-storey Upper East Side building). A current street address is not published on the house pages checked — named gap. Historic European offices in Amsterdam, London, The Hague and Brussels are closed chapters of the firm's history, not current locations
Scale Figures: Not published — the house publishes no staff, inventory-count or turnover figure in sources checked
Website: https://heydenryk.com
Contact Route: Enquiry route via heydenryk.com
Phone: Not published on the house pages checked — see contact route
HQ Address: New York, New York, United States (current street address not published on the house pages checked — named gap)
Distinctiveness: The oldest name in this guide still trading: an Amsterdam firm of 1845 whose New York branch reframed American modernism — Hopper for twenty years, O'Keeffe, Hartley, Picasso's first post-war American exhibition — and whose designs were so widely copied that framers speak of a 'Heydenryk genre'
Access / Entry Route: Collectors, dealers, curators, designers and artists commission directly from the New York house, which states it will work within a client's budget and schedule; antique stock and exclusive designs are shown at the showroom
Notes: Clientele above is the house's own published history — much of it historical (the great museum relationships are stated by the house in its history pages) and printed as such. Current address, phone and ownership are genuine gaps in the house's public material
Sources: heydenryk.com (house history and clientele pages, including the Gloria Vanderbilt testimonial naming the current president); Franklin Report profile of the House of Heydenryk
6. Gill & Lagodich Gallery
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: United States
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 1991
History: Founded in TriBeCa in 1991, Gill & Lagodich Fine Period Frames built a gallery, a workshop and a travelling teaching collection around one conviction: that the American and European period frame is an art form with a history worth exhibiting. It describes itself as the oldest extant antiques emporium in TriBeCa.
Ownership: Co-owned by its principals, Tracy Gill and Simeon Lagodich (named as co-owners in the house's project accounts) — no outside owner published
Leadership: Tracy Gill and Simeon Lagodich, co-owners and principals (house project accounts)
What It Does / How It Works: Clients choose from an inventory of more than 2,000 period frames spanning over four hundred years, or commission a custom replica fabricated in the firm's studios — gilded and wood frames made with the construction techniques, patinas and gilding methods of the originals — alongside restoration, sizing, collection appraisals and curatorial identification advice. Frames are also rented as props for photography and film
Specialties: European and American period frames; custom-made replica frames (notably Hudson River School and American modernist models); gilded and wood frame restoration; antiqued mirror glass made to fit; artist-designed contemporary frames; frame history lectures and clinics for museums
Clientele (as published): As published by the house in its project accounts: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (Thannhauser Collection reframings), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (exhibition-loan framing), the Colby College Museum of Art, the Museum of the American Revolution, the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Workshops / Locations: TriBeCa, Manhattan — gallery and studios at 108 Reade Street
Scale Figures: Inventory of more than 2,000 period frames (house); a permanent travelling collection of more than 60 frames (house/FlexJobs profile). Staff and turnover figures: not published
Website: https://www.gill-lagodich.com
Contact Route: Gallery contact route via gill-lagodich.com
Phone: Not published in sources checked — see contact route
HQ Address: 108 Reade Street, New York, NY 10013, United States
Distinctiveness: The scholar-framer's gallery: no other house in this guide exhibits its own stock as a museum teaching collection, lectures on frame history to museum docents, and builds three twelve-foot museum replicas — for the Museum of the American Revolution — in the same practice
Access / Entry Route: Museums, collectors, architects and designers visit the TriBeCa gallery or commission replicas and restorations directly; private individuals are explicitly welcomed by the house alongside institutions
Notes: All named museum clients above appear in the house's own published project pages, each tied to a specific framed painting — the standard this guide applies to every entry
Sources: gill-lagodich.com (house home page, project and restoration pages, 2026)
7. J. Pocker
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: United States
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 1926
History: Established in 1926 by Jacob and Bessie Pocker, immigrant founders on Manhattan's Upper East Side, J. Pocker grew from a neighbourhood frame shop into New York's bespoke framing institution — run by the Pocker family for three generations, sold by Robyn Pocker to Eric Mauskopf in about 2017, and celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026.
Ownership: Eric Mauskopf, owner (acquired from Robyn Pocker, c. 2017; trade-press accounts) — verified October 2026 from available sources
Leadership: Eric Mauskopf, President (and owner; titled president in house and trade sources from 2017 onward)
What It Does / How It Works: Bespoke framing designed in the showroom and made in the company's own factory: clients — artists, collectors, designers and families across generations — choose profiles and finishes with Pocker designers (a custom gilded Whistler cassetta profile concealing a television is a 2026 house example of the genre), and frames are produced in a 10,000-square-foot factory in Mamaroneck reported in profiles of the firm
Specialties: Bespoke custom framing; gilded and period profiles; framed art and prints; framing for televisions and mirrors; room-finishing and designer commissions
Clientele (as published): The house publishes no named museum or institutional client list in sources checked — named gap. Its published clientele is generational: artists, collectors, interior designers and families, including third-generation clients (house and profile accounts)
Workshops / Locations: Flagship at 1051 Third Avenue, New York; Bronxville and Manhasset, New York; Greenwich and Westport, Connecticut (house site); factory in Mamaroneck, New York (profile accounts)
Scale Figures: 100th anniversary celebrated in 2026 (house); five retail locations and a 10,000-square-foot factory as reported. Turnover: not published
Website: https://jpocker.com
Contact Route: ericm@jpocker.com and the contact route via jpocker.com
Phone: +1 212 838 5488
HQ Address: 1051 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10065, United States (flagship)
Distinctiveness: A century on one family's corner of the Upper East Side — the framer as neighbourhood institution, now in its second ownership and its hundredth year, where the clients, like the firm before 2017, arrive in the third generation
Access / Entry Route: Walk-in showrooms in New York and Connecticut; commissions are designed in-store with Pocker's designers, and the firm works directly with collectors and the design trade
Notes: Founded is printed as 1926, the house's own date (its centenary fell in 2026); some secondary sources say 1929 and are superseded by the house. The Mauskopf purchase is dated 'about 2017' from trade profiles of his arrival
Sources: jpocker.com (house site and privacy/contact page, 2026; 100th-anniversary posts); Business of Home and Newswire profiles of Eric Mauskopf's presidency (2017); Manhattan Sideways visit report
THE UNITED STATES BEYOND NEW YORK
8. Oliver Brothers
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: United States
Headquarters: Beverly / Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Founded: 1850
History: Founded in New York in 1850 by James Oliver, a Scottish-trained restorer, and his son George — believed to be the first art-restoration business in the United States — and established in Boston by George in the late 1860s. Generations of Olivers followed (George Taylor Oliver invented the vacuum hot-table for relining paintings, still an industry standard), and the firm has been led since 1986 by Peter Tysver, who joined as an apprentice in 1968.
Ownership: Peter Tysver (owner since 1986, per Northshore Magazine's history of the firm; a 2026 re-confirmation was not found — vintage flagged)
Leadership: Peter Tysver, owner and head of the firm (joined 1968, took over 1986 — profile-sourced, vintage flagged); Greg Bishop, head of custom framing (house article)
What It Does / How It Works: A restoration house whose framing is done by conservators: paintings, works on paper, icons, murals, sculpture, gilded objects and antique and contemporary frames are conserved in the Beverly studio, and custom framing is designed alongside that work — for unusual pieces the firm collaborates with Goldleaf Framemakers of Santa Fe on gilded frames (house account) — so that presentation and preservation are decided together
Specialties: Painting and frame conservation and restoration; museum-quality custom framing; gilded-object restoration; art insurance-claim work; double-sided and shaped-frame problem-solving
Clientele (as published): As published by the house and profiles: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution were 19th-century clients (house history); today the firm serves museums, dealers, galleries, private collectors, corporations and universities across 43 states (house site, 2005–2019 client map). No current named museum roster is published — the historical clients are printed as historical
Workshops / Locations: Main studio at 117 Elliott Street, Beverly, Massachusetts; Boston pick-up and drop-off at the Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street
Scale Figures: A team of eight, working on 50 to 75 projects at a time (Northshore Magazine, 2014 — dated). Turnover: not published
Website: https://oliverbrothersonline.com
Contact Route: office@OliverBrothersOnline.com; appointments by telephone (house site)
Phone: +1 617 536 2323
HQ Address: 117 Elliott Street, Beverly, MA 01915, United States
Distinctiveness: America's oldest conservation house, framing from inside the restoration studio: the firm that notices a painting has been framed wrongly — acidic backing, non-archival adhesive — because noticing is its trade, and fixes the framing as part of the cure
Access / Entry Route: By appointment at Beverly or via the Boston drop-off; the firm takes commissions from collectors, museums and the trade, and publishes its framing philosophy (archival materials, conservator oversight) as the route in
Notes: Included as a frame house & restorer, framed honestly: restoration is the senior partner in this firm, and framing is practised to conservation standard within it. Leadership sourcing is a 2014 profile and is flagged
Sources: oliverbrothersonline.com (house site, history and framing articles, 2026); Northshore Magazine history of Oliver Brothers, 2014; Wikipedia summary of the firm's history
9. Goldleaf Framemakers of Santa Fe
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: United States (Southwest)
Headquarters: Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Founded: 1988
History: Founded in Santa Fe in 1988 by Martin (Marty) Horowitz, Goldleaf Framemakers built the Southwest's water-gilding workshop: hand-carved frames in the historic styles of the art the Santa Fe trade sells, made by the Renaissance technique — gold floated on water over gesso and bole — rather than oil gilding. Marty Horowitz's son David now runs the shop; another son, Matthew, established its art-restoration department after a New York career that included Lowy.
Ownership: David Horowitz, sole proprietor (his own published interview) — family-owned; verified October 2026 from available sources
Leadership: David Horowitz, proprietor and master framer; Matthew (Matt) Horowitz leads the art-restoration department (Santa Fe New Mexican, 2015)
What It Does / How It Works: Historic reproduction frames made entirely in-house — carved, gessoed, water-gilded and patinated in the workshop — matched to the period and place of the artwork from a library the proprietor puts at some 2,000 samples; clients who cannot bring art to Santa Fe use the house's virtual framing service, sending images and receiving framed proposals remotely
Specialties: Hand-carved, water-gilded historic reproduction frames in American, American Impressionist, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Modernist and Contemporary styles (house style library); frame and mirror restoration with custom silver-leafed glass; art restoration through its in-house department
Clientele (as published): The house does not publish a named institutional client list in sources checked — named gap. Published accounts describe its frames bought by collectors, museums and galleries across the United States (Santa Fe New Mexican) and by galleries throughout Santa Fe; gallerist Aaron Payne of Aaron Payne Fine Art is quoted calling it one of the finest framemakers in America (Table Magazine)
Workshops / Locations: Santa Fe — workshop and showroom at 627 West Alameda Street (the firm moved from Galisteo Street to the larger West Alameda building in 2006, gaining separate gilding, carving and mat rooms — Santa Fe New Mexican)
Scale Figures: Some 2,000 frame samples (proprietor's interview); gold-leaf frames were priced from $30 to $500 per foot in the paper's 2006 account — printed as dated colour, not a current price list. Staff and turnover: not published
Website: https://www.goldleafpictureframes.com
Contact Route: Contact and virtual-framing route via goldleafpictureframes.com
Phone: +1 505 988 5005
HQ Address: 627 West Alameda Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501, United States
Distinctiveness: Water gilding in the desert: a Santa Fe workshop practising the Egyptian-derived, Renaissance-refined technique entire — carving, gilding and finishing under one roof — for the historic art of the American Southwest and far beyond it
Access / Entry Route: Collectors and galleries commission in the showroom or from anywhere by the virtual framing service; the shop works to order for private clients, galleries and museums without a trade-only barrier
Notes: This is the 'Gold Leaf Framemakers' of the commissioning brief — the Santa Fe house (spelled Goldleaf by the firm itself). Founder attribution follows the Santa Fe New Mexican and family accounts; David Horowitz's proprietorship is from his own 2022 studio-tour interview
Sources: goldleafpictureframes.com (house site, 2026); Art in the Raw studio tour with David Horowitz; Santa Fe New Mexican on Goldleaf and on Matthew Horowitz (2006; 2015); Table Magazine, New Mexico, on Santa Fe craftspeople
BRITAIN — WARRANTS, ARCHIVES AND WORKSHOPS
10. Paul Mitchell Ltd
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: United Kingdom
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Founded: 1970s (Paul Mitchell's frame business within the Mitchell family firm; the house states over 45 years of experience)
History: Paul Mitchell joined his father John Mitchell's Old Master dealership in the 1970s and made the frame his subject: over five decades he built Paul Mitchell Ltd into the scholarly centre of British frame dealing — an inventory from the 15th to the 20th century, a unique photographic archive and library, and two standard books on frame history. The firm is now run jointly by Paul Mitchell and his son Mark, sharing the Avery Row premises with John Mitchell Fine Paintings.
Ownership: The Mitchell family (within the family's group of firms) — no outside owner published; verified October 2026
Leadership: Paul Mitchell, founder and the firm's authority on frame history; Mark Mitchell, who jointly runs the business with his father (John Mitchell family history page)
What It Does / How It Works: Framing as connoisseurship: the firm researches each picture and prepares framing proposals with photomontages, so a client can see a painting in candidate frames before committing; the frame is then supplied from the extensive antique inventory or commissioned as a high-quality handmade replica made by master craftsmen. Restoration and advice complete the service
Specialties: Antique frames — Italian, Spanish, French, British and North European, 15th to 20th century; handmade replica frames; frame restoration; framing research and photomontage proposals; the photographic archive and library of frames
Clientele (as published): As published by the house: museums, private collectors, dealers, auctioneers and art agents worldwide (the house's 'distinguished pictures framed' pages show, among others, Van Gogh's La berceuse at the Art Institute of Chicago and Cézanne's Harlequin at the National Gallery of Art, Washington). The firm is a partner of Sotheby's Preferred (house)
Workshops / Locations: London — 17 Avery Row, off New Bond Street, shared with John Mitchell Fine Paintings Ltd
Scale Figures: Not published — the house publishes no inventory count or turnover in sources checked (its inventory is described as extensive, spanning five centuries)
Website: https://www.paulmitchell.co.uk
Contact Route: Contact route via paulmitchell.co.uk
Phone: +44 20 7493 8732
HQ Address: 17 Avery Row, London W1K 4BF, United Kingdom
Distinctiveness: The framer as author: the only house in this guide whose head wrote the reference books — Mitchell's archive-first method, testing a painting against photographed frames before any wood is cut, is the profession's research standard
Access / Entry Route: Collectors, museums and the trade consult the Avery Row gallery directly; framing proposals with photomontages are the published first step, for pictures anywhere in the world
Notes: No single founding year is published for the limited company; the entry dates the business by Paul Mitchell's documented 1970s start and the house's own 'over 45 years' statement rather than inventing a year
Sources: paulmitchell.co.uk (about page and framing galleries, 2026); johnmitchell.net (family history page); Sotheby's, 'Frame, Set & Match' (house-described collaboration)
11. John Davies Framing
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: United Kingdom
Headquarters: Fakenham, Norfolk (London-founded), United Kingdom
Founded: 1969
History: Founded by John Davies in 1969 and still a family business, John Davies Framing has made museum-quality frames for over fifty years — 'from Rembrandt to Picasso, from Manet to Monet' in its own account — combining centuries-old hand techniques with machinery the firm builds for itself, including a custom ripple machine for Dutch-style ripple frames.
Ownership: Family business founded by John Davies (house: 'Founded by John Davies and now enriched by his family') — no outside owner published; verified October 2026
Leadership: John Davies, founder. A current named managing director is not published on the house's site in sources checked — named gap
What It Does / How It Works: Each frame is custom-made for its artwork in the firm's workshops: consultation (face-to-face, with worldwide shipping for distant clients), hand-carving and hand-building by artisans, water gilding of gold leaf, and finishing, with a restoration and conservation studio for historic frames alongside new work
Specialties: Museum-quality bespoke frames; hand-carved frames; water gilding; ripple-moulded Dutch-style frames; frame restoration and conservation; frames for paintings from Old Masters to contemporary work, mirrors and objects
Clientele (as published): As published by the house: museums and galleries worldwide, elite private collections, palaces and superyachts (unnamed, house account); a named project is the framing of René Magritte's L'empire des lumières for Christie's 'MICA: The Collection of Mica Ertegun' sale (house news, 2025)
Workshops / Locations: Workshops at Fakenham, Norfolk (Unit 5, Miller's Close, Fakenham Industrial Estate) — the firm's production home; London roots and a London telephone number retained
Scale Figures: Not published — the house publishes no staff or turnover figure in sources checked ('a small and dedicated team' with 'hundreds of years' of combined craftsmanship is its own description)
Website: https://johndaviesframing.com
Contact Route: Contact route via johndaviesframing.com
Phone: +44 20 7930 7977
HQ Address: Unit 5, Miller's Close, Fakenham Industrial Estate, Fakenham, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Distinctiveness: Tradition with its own machine shop: the frame house that builds its tools as well as its frames — and whose work surrounds the most valuable Surrealist painting ever sold at auction
Access / Entry Route: Face-to-face consultations at the workshops, with worldwide shipping published for international clients; commissions come from museums, galleries and private collectors directly
Notes: Headquarters is stated as the Fakenham workshops per the firm's current listing; its site presents the business without a separate London showroom address in sources checked
Sources: johndaviesframing.com (house site, workshops and news pages, 2026); the firm's published business listing (address and telephone)
12. Arnold Wiggins & Sons
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: United Kingdom
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Founded: Early 20th century (the Wiggins family collecting and dealing; royal warrant held since 1955)
History: The Wiggins family, craftsmen-dealers since the early years of the 20th century, collected a stock of antique frames and built a workshop specialising in adapting and reproducing them; Arnold Wiggins's son Jim expanded the collection after the Second World War. Since 1955 the firm has held the Royal Warrant as picture frame makers and suppliers to the Royal Collection — a distinction it retains — and it is now headed by Michael Gregory, who trained as a carver and gilder alongside Jim Wiggins.
Ownership: Private limited company (Arnold Wiggins & Sons Ltd) — no outside owner published; verified October 2026
Leadership: Michael Gregory, Director (titled director in a Financial Times profile the house publishes; described as head of the firm by The Frame Blog)
What It Does / How It Works: From its St James's shop and workshop the firm advises on and supplies the framing of paintings: an antique frame is selected from stock (16th- to 20th-century, including 17th-century French and 16th-century Italian gilded examples), adapted by its carvers and gilders, or a reproduction is made and a historic frame restored — the Wiggins picture-frame archive underpins the advice
Specialties: Antique picture frames and mirrors, 16th to 20th century; reproduction frames; adaptation and resizing of antique frames; restoration of carved and gilded frames and furniture; framing counsel for Old Master, modern and contemporary paintings and works on paper
Clientele (as published): As published by the British Antique Dealers' Association and the Royal Warrant Holders Association: the Royal Household and the Royal Collection (warrant holders since 1955), the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and private collectors worldwide. A named commission: the reproduction tabernacle frame for Frederic Leighton's Flaming June, commissioned by Christie's in 1996 (house)
Workshops / Locations: London — shop at 31 Bury Street, St James's, with its workshop (carvers and gilders) behind the trade
Scale Figures: Not published — the house publishes no stock count or turnover in sources checked
Website: https://www.arnoldwiggins.com
Contact Route: info@arnoldwiggins.com and the contact route via arnoldwiggins.com
Phone: +44 20 7925 0195
HQ Address: 31 Bury Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6AU, United Kingdom
Distinctiveness: The warrant on the door: framers to the Royal Collection since 1955, holding the archive against which British pictures are reframed — when the Hamburger Kunsthalle needed Friedrich's frame, the search ended in the Wiggins stock
Access / Entry Route: The Bury Street shop is open Monday–Friday to collectors, museums and dealers; framing advice is the published entry route, in person or by correspondence
Notes: The firm's founding is dated by the family's documented early-20th-century start rather than a single year, which sources do not publish; the warrant date (1955) is published by BADA and the Royal Warrant Holders Association
Sources: bada.org and cinoa.org dealer profiles; royalwarrant.org company profile; arnoldwiggins.com (house notes, including Flaming June)
CONTINENTAL EUROPE — PARIS, MUNICH, VIENNA, FLORENCE
13. La Maison du Cadre
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: France
Headquarters: Paris, France
Founded: 1933
History: A Paris family firm founded in 1933, now in its third generation working for the conservation and restoration of heritage as well as contemporary creation. Its own site carries its proudest line first: since 1933, supplier to embassies, to museums and national monuments, and to great companies.
Ownership: Family-owned, third generation (house description) — no outside owner published; verified October 2026
Leadership: A current named head is not published on the house's site in sources checked — named gap (the firm presents itself collectively, as a maison)
What It Does / How It Works: Framing, restoration and old-style gilding practised in on-site ateliers: the house advises art lovers, interior architects and decorators on the design and making of their frames — classic, modern and American-style (caisse américaine) — and offers the full collector's service around the frame itself: estimates, collection, delivery and hanging
Specialties: Classic and modern framing; restoration of gilded wood and of paintings; dorure à l'ancienne (traditional gilding); conservation framing; bevels (biseaux) and custom colours; unique ornaments and frames from a collection of more than a thousand ornament moulds
Clientele (as published): As published by the house itself on its home page: embassies, museums and national monuments, and large companies (fournisseur des Ambassades, des Musées et Monuments Nationaux, et des grandes sociétés) — institutions are described by class, not named, and this guide names none for it
Workshops / Locations: Paris — 96 Rue de la Tour (16th arrondissement), with the ateliers on site
Scale Figures: A collection of more than 1,000 ornament moulds (house description). Staff and turnover: not published
Website: https://www.lamaisonducadre.com
Contact Route: Contact route via lamaisonducadre.com
Phone: +33 1 45 04 75 73
HQ Address: 96 Rue de la Tour, 75016 Paris, France
Distinctiveness: The institutional Paris encadreur: three generations supplying the state's own walls — embassies and national monuments — from a single rue de la Tour maison with a thousand ornament moulds in the drawer
Access / Entry Route: Private clients, decorators and institutions commission at the Paris maison; the house publishes estimates, pick-up, delivery and hanging as part of its service
Notes: Headline clientele wording is the house's own French, translated literally. Leadership is a genuine gap: the firm trades on the maison's name, not a personality
Sources: lamaisonducadre.com (house home page and description, 2026); the firm's published Paris listing (address and telephone)
14. Werner Murrer Rahmen (WMR Manufaktur)
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: Germany
Headquarters: Munich, Germany
Founded: 1986
History: Founded in Munich in 1986 by Werner Murrer, the workshop became the world's research centre for the German Expressionist artist's frame — its founder curated the Brücke-Museum's exhibition on Brücke frames — and for historically correct reframing generally. In 2024 the company was acquired by WMR Manufaktur GmbH, whose managing director, a state-certified picture framer, carries the manufactory forward in Thalkirchen.
Ownership: WMR Manufaktur GmbH (acquired the company in 2024; house team page) — verified October 2026
Leadership: Christian Rode, Managing Director of WMR Manufaktur GmbH and owner (house team page); Werner Murrer, founder (1986), remains the house's research authority in its published project accounts
What It Does / How It Works: Reframing as research: the team — carpenters, restorers, gilders, carvers, a glazier and art historians under one roof — works from an archive of more than 100,000 photographs and a stock of some 2,500 antique frames to fit a painting with a period frame, adapt one, or replicate a documented lost original (as it did, from 1923 installation photographs, for Kirchner at LACMA). All trades are in-house, from construction to conservation-correct mounting
Specialties: German Expressionist and early-20th-century artists' frames; antique frames (stock focused on 19th-century German and artists' frames, with 15th- to 18th-century examples); replica frames from photographic documentation; museum reframing projects; gilding and surface work in historical techniques
Clientele (as published): As published in museum and house accounts: LACMA (seven German Expressionist paintings reframed, the museum's own blog), the Norton Simon Museum, the Guggenheim Museum (Gabriele Münter exhibition), the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Caspar David Friedrich reframing), Kunsthaus Zürich and the Albertina (Francis Bacon reframing accounts on the house site)
Workshops / Locations: Munich — workshop in Thalkirchen with a shop across the street (house account). A street address is not published in the sources checked — see contact route
Scale Figures: Some 2,500 antique frames in stock and an archive of more than 100,000 photographs (LACMA's account of the workshop and the house's own statements)
Website: https://www.murrer-rahmen.de
Contact Route: Contact route via murrer-rahmen.de (team e-mail addresses are published in obfuscated form on the house site)
Phone: Not published in sources checked — see contact route
HQ Address: Munich (Thalkirchen), Germany (street address not published in sources checked — named gap)
Distinctiveness: The research manufactory: where other houses keep corner samples, Murrer keeps a hundred thousand photographs — the evidence base that lets a museum rebuild the exact frame an artist chose a century ago
Access / Entry Route: Museums and private clients commission directly; the workshop receives visitors and client tours, and its consultants travel to clients in Germany and abroad (house team page)
Notes: The 2024 change of ownership is the continental story of this guide: a famous founder's workshop passing, intact and trading, to a certified framer's company — stated by the house on its own team page
Sources: murrer-rahmen.de (team page and project blog, 2025–26); LACMA Unframed, 'Reframing German Expressionism'; The Frame Blog on the Brücke frames exhibition
15. Smolka (Georg Wilhelm Smolka)
Category: Frame house & restorer
Region: Austria
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
Founded: Workshop established over 100 years ago (Homo Faber); Georg Wilhelm Smolka took over in 1986
History: The Smolka workshop was established in Vienna over a century ago; Wilhelm Smolka was frame restorer to the Hofburg Imperial Palace and contributed after the Second World War to restoring Vienna's great interiors — the State Opera, the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene, the Imperial Palace and Schönbrunn. His son Georg Wilhelm learned the craft from him, took his master's certificate and the firm in 1986, and has made frames in every style since — his most memorable commission a new frame for Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare.
Ownership: Georg Wilhelm Smolka, owner and master artisan (Homo Faber profile) — verified October 2026 from that source
Leadership: Georg Wilhelm Smolka, owner and master framer (began his career in 1980; master craftsman and teacher of apprentices since 1986 — Homo Faber)
What It Does / How It Works: A master framer's atelier in the imperial tradition: frames of all styles are handcrafted and historic frames restored for the Viennese art world, drawing on the workshop's own collection of more than 2,500 historic frames as models and stock; the master trains apprentices toward their master examinations, carrying the craft line forward personally
Specialties: Frames in all historical styles; frame restoration; gilding; historic-frame collection used as reference and stock; commissions for drawings and paintings of museum rank (the Dürer Young Hare frame)
Clientele (as published): Homo Faber's account names the workshop's historic commissions — the Hofburg Imperial Palace (Wilhelm Smolka's restoration work), the Vienna State Opera, the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene and Schönbrunn Palace (post-war restoration projects). A current named client list is not published — the historic commissions are printed as historic, and no current museum client is claimed for the house
Workshops / Locations: Vienna — Spiegelgasse 25, 1010 Vienna (Homo Faber artisan address), in the first district a few steps from the Hofburg
Scale Figures: More than 2,500 historic frames in the collection and over 2,500 frames created across the master's career (Homo Faber — the two figures appear in its itinerary and artisan profiles respectively and are printed as stated)
Website: No standalone house website found in sources checked — the firm's craft profile is published by Homo Faber (Michelangelo Foundation), homofaber.com
Contact Route: Via the Homo Faber artisan profile (homofaber.com) and at the Vienna workshop
Phone: Not published in sources checked — see contact route
HQ Address: Spiegelgasse 25, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Distinctiveness: The palace framer's son: a one-master Viennese atelier, a century old, whose family restored the Hofburg's frames and which was trusted with a frame for Dürer's Young Hare — the most famous drawing in Austria
Access / Entry Route: By visit or appointment at the Spiegelgasse workshop; commissions come from collectors, dealers and institutions directly to the master
Notes: The thinnest public record in this guide, and printed as such: Smolka's verification rests on the Michelangelo Foundation's Homo Faber artisan research rather than a house site, and every field above is confined to what that source states
Sources: Homo Faber (Michelangelo Foundation) artisan profile of Georg Wilhelm Smolka and its Vienna craft itinerary, 2026
16. Bottega d'Arte Maselli
Category: Atelier / custom framer
Region: Italy
Headquarters: Florence, Italy
Founded: 1955
History: Opened in Florence in 1955 by Paolo Maselli as a shop for antique prints and handmade frames; his son Gabriele — who trained at the Palazzo Spinelli school, graduating in gilding, restoration and frame carving, and joined the shop in 1979 — made it the San Lorenzo bottega for carved and gilded frames, and now works with his own son Tommaso, the third generation.
Ownership: The Maselli family (Paolo, then Gabriele, now Gabriele with Tommaso) — no outside owner published; verified October 2026
Leadership: Gabriele Maselli, master artisan (maestro; runs the family business since 1979 — Homo Faber), with Tommaso Maselli, his son and pupil
What It Does / How It Works: Frames are designed and made in the bottega behind the shop: wood is carved, prepared with gesso and red bole, and gilded in pure gold by the water (gouache) method, silvered or finished with mecca, exactly in the Florentine tradition — for new commissions, antique prints from the shop's stock, and the restoration of centuries-old frames, including replicating a painted-gesso antique in carved wood
Specialties: Hand-carved gilded frames; water gilding in pure gold; silvering and meccatura; frame restoration and replication; Florentine Renaissance and Baroque styles; antique prints; a collection of more than 600 unique handcrafted frames
Clientele (as published): As published in reputable Florence coverage: the Uffizi — Maselli reproduced the frame of a Rubens damaged in the 1993 Via dei Georgofili bombing, for the Niobe Room (Guide Me Florence); and the great Last Supper frame behind the main altar of Florence Cathedral (ArtTrav). Gabriele Maselli is also a consultant to the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo) for its gilding workshop (Firenze Made in Tuscany). Named museum clients beyond these published projects are not claimed
Workshops / Locations: Florence — Via de' Ginori 51r, in the San Lorenzo quarter, shop and workshop together
Scale Figures: More than 600 unique handcrafted wooden frames in the family's collection (Homo Faber). Staff and turnover: not published
Website: https://www.cornicimaselli.com
Contact Route: info@cornicimaselli.com and the contact route via cornicimaselli.com
Phone: +39 055 282142
HQ Address: Via de' Ginori 51r, 50123 Florence, Italy
Distinctiveness: The bottega that healed a bombing: when the Mafia bomb of 1993 wrecked the Uffizi's Niobe Room, the replacement frame for its Rubens was carved and gilded here, by hand, in the street-level workshop where the family still works
Access / Entry Route: Walk-in at the Via de' Ginori shop (Monday–Saturday); commissions and restorations are taken from collectors, museums and visitors directly, and work is sold worldwide (Homo Faber)
Notes: The Uffizi and Duomo commissions are stated in Florence craft coverage rather than on the house site and are attributed to those sources in the entry; Gabriele's master-artisan standing is Homo Faber's
Sources: cornicimaselli.com (house history); Homo Faber artisan profile of Gabriele & Tommaso Maselli; Guide Me Florence and ArtTrav on the bottega; Firenze Made in Tuscany craft survey
THE SCALE CONTEXT — MANUFACTURER AND RETAIL GIANT
17. Larson-Juhl
Category: Manufacturer-wholesaler (context)
Region: Worldwide (United States-led)
Headquarters: Norcross, Georgia, United States
Founded: Roots in the late 1800s (company statement); a single founding year is not published by the company
History: CONTEXT ENTRY — not an atelier. Larson-Juhl grew from Ashland, Wisconsin beginnings into the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of custom picture-framing products (the company's own description): the moulding library from which thousands of independent frame shops build their frames. Over the past decade it has shifted away from in-house manufacturing toward sales and marketing of products made by independent manufacturers, and in 2024 its Ashland operation passed to H Window Company, continuing as MTTM Corporation.
Ownership: A Berkshire Hathaway company (subsidiary; company careers profile) — verified October 2026
Leadership: A current named president or chief executive is not published in sources checked — named gap. (Craig Ponzio was president in a 2000 trade distributor profile and Steve McKenzie president and CEO in a 2002 industry panel — both dated, neither printed as current)
What It Does / How It Works: Trade only: Larson-Juhl designs and sources mouldings (hardwood production historically at Ashland; hand-crafted finishes from three European factories and suppliers in Asia in trade accounts), and distributes them through some 20 branch distribution centres that cut lengths, chop and join frames, and deliver — typically next day — to independent custom framers and retail stores, who frame for the public
Specialties: Custom picture-frame mouldings in wood and metal; hand-crafted and contemporary finishes; matboard, glass and framing supplies; chop-and-join services for the trade (the 'LJ Back Room' programme framers themselves describe on the company site)
Clientele (as published): Independent custom frame shops and retail framing stores worldwide — the trade, not the public (company and trade accounts). No museum or collector clientele is claimed: collectors meet Larson-Juhl only as the moulding inside a local framer's work
Workshops / Locations: Headquarters at Norcross, Georgia; about 20 branch distribution centres across North America (trade account), with European manufacture and Asian supply as described in trade profiles
Scale Figures: Described by the company as the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of custom picture framing products; some 20 distribution centres (Supply Chain Magazine profile). Revenue: not published separately by Berkshire Hathaway in sources checked
Website: https://www.larsonjuhl.com
Contact Route: Trade contact route via larsonjuhl.com; customer line 1-800-438-5031 as published in company materials
Phone: 1-800-438-5031 (company line as published)
HQ Address: 3900 Steve Reynolds Boulevard, Norcross, GA 30093, United States (headquarters address as published in trade distributor profiles)
Distinctiveness: The industry's invisible majority: most custom frames made in North America begin as Larson-Juhl moulding — which is precisely why it belongs in this guide as context, labelled as what it is, a Berkshire Hathaway wholesaler and not a frame house
Access / Entry Route: Trade-only posture: collectors cannot commission Larson-Juhl directly; the entry route is through any independent custom framer stocking its mouldings, which is to say, through most of them
Notes: Included under the brief's explicit scale-context rule and labelled in its category, history and access fields so no reader can mistake it for an atelier. Leadership and founding-year gaps are the company's own disclosure practice
Sources: larsonjuhl.com (company site and framer testimonials); Built In company profile (Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary; founded roots; HQ Norcross); Supply Chain Magazine profile; H Window acquisition release, April 2024
18. Michaels Custom Framing (The Michaels Companies)
Category: Retail custom framing (context)
Region: North America
Headquarters: Irving, Texas, United States
Founded: 1973 (first Michaels store, Dallas)
History: CONTEXT ENTRY — not an atelier. Michaels, founded in Dallas in 1973 by Michael J. Dupey, became North America's largest arts-and-crafts retailer; custom framing grew into one of its defining departments, served at framing counters in its stores, supported by Artistree, its own manufacturer of custom and specialty framing merchandise, and by Aaron Brothers custom framing as a store-within-a-store. Apollo Global Management took the company private in 2021.
Ownership: Apollo Global Management (taken private in 2021 in a transaction valuing the company at $3.3bn within a $5bn deal — Retail Dive and company announcements) — verified October 2026
Leadership: David Boone, Chief Executive Officer (appointed February 2025; company announcement via PR Newswire and the Michaels press room board page)
What It Does / How It Works: Retail custom framing at national scale: a customer designs a frame with a store framer from the department's moulding and mat ranges; custom framing orders are processed and shipped to the store, where the frame is assembled and collected (the company's published process). It is the framing most North Americans actually use — included here, labelled, as the scale against which the ateliers are the exception
Specialties: Custom framing counters in over 1,300 stores; ready-made frames; shadowboxes and memorabilia framing; Artistree-manufactured custom and specialty framing merchandise; Aaron Brothers Custom Framing store-within-a-store
Clientele (as published): Retail customers — makers, families, photographers and decorators across 49 states and Canada (company descriptions). No museum clientele is claimed or implied
Workshops / Locations: Over 1,300 stores in 49 states and Canada (company, 2025), each with framing services; headquarters at Irving, Texas
Scale Figures: Over 1,300 stores (company, 2025) — the largest framing footprint in this guide by two orders of magnitude, and the reason it is filed as context. Framing-department revenue: not published separately
Website: https://www.michaels.com
Contact Route: Customer care 1-800-642-4235 and the custom framing pages via michaels.com
Phone: 1-800-642-4235 (customer care)
HQ Address: Irving, Texas, United States (headquarters; a street address is not published in the sources checked — named gap)
Distinctiveness: The counter at the end of the craft aisle: whatever the ateliers are, Michaels Custom Framing is what framing means at continental scale — a designed-in-store, centrally processed, locally assembled service inside North America's largest craft retailer
Access / Entry Route: Walk in: any store's framing counter takes commissions from the public without appointment, the opposite posture to the appointment ateliers that fill the rest of this guide
Notes: Included under the brief's explicit scale-context rule and labelled as such in category, history and access. Its CEO is a retail chief executive, not a master framer, and is printed with his exact company title
Sources: The Michaels Companies announcement of David Boone's appointment, February 2025 (PR Newswire; Michaels press room); Retail Dive on the appointment and the 2021 Apollo transaction; company store-count descriptions, 2025
NAMED GAPS — STATED HONESTLY
Two famous names are absent and their absence is the record: Knoell Rahmen of Basel, whose Thomas Knoell died in 2022 and whose premises passed to a gallery use, and Kulicke, the master who trained Abe Munn, under whose name no operating house could be verified. Gold Leaf Studios of Washington, DC — William B. Adair's gilding and framing studio, published with clients including the U.S. Department of State — is identified and recommended as the first addition at the next update; it is not listed here because it was not verified to this guide's full field standard in this pass. Within the entries: Lowy's materials currently style both Larry Shar and, in a 2026 caption, Brad Shar as president, and the entry flags the succession rather than resolving it; A.P.F. Munn publishes neither its officers nor its clients, and none are invented for it; Heydenryk publishes no current street address; Smolka of Vienna has no house website and is verified through the Michelangelo Foundation's artisan research; Larson-Juhl publishes neither a single founding year nor a current named chief executive. Scale figures are printed only where a house publishes them, dated — most ateliers publish none, and their entries read 'not published'.