Most of the time though, my job as a frame designer is more complicated than that. I am here to facilitate the narrowing down of a lot of options to a few, ultimately finding a best match for the customer's taste. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to what is the best choice once we get down to a few options. It becomes a decision based on personal feeling- which choice enhances the artwork for that particular person?
We see this often when we are framing a well-known piece of art. For every person who owns a reproduction of a great work, there are endless possibilities of framing selections. We
encountered this recently with an embroidery of Klimt's The Kiss. My customer was celebrating his first anniversary with his wife, and they had bought the embroidery on their honeymoon. It was a wonderful idea to present it to her framed for their anniversary. It was even smarter of him to narrow it down to three selections and allow her to make the final decision!
The first option w
as Larson Juhl's Mantilla profile, in black, with a gold fillet and no mat.We really liked how the embossed pattern in the frame mimicked the border of the work. This frame is labeled as black, but it is really a warm black/brown with red undertones. That mix of coloring helped highlight the range of those warm colors in the background of the image.
The gold fillet was used to provide a nicer transition between the dark frame and the gold border; otherwise it felt like a harsh jump. The lack of a mat gave the customers more options for hanging in their smaller apartment.
The second option was also a Larson Juhl Frame: Isabella, also in black.
This 2 inch scoop profile features a weathered finish as well as a line of aged gold beads on the interior edge. My customer liked how the frame reminded him of their European honeymoon, where they traveled through many historical sites.
We felt like we needed some visual space between the beading and the border of the fabric; otherwise, it felt too crowded and busy. A taupy gray over a grayish cream offered some contrast as well as the needed visual rest.
Our third option provided the most contrast between the framing treatment and the artwork. Larson Juhl, again, with their Sofia cap in iron with a matching fillet.Sofia has an interesting finish- it is kind of metallic, but also aged. Usually the raised parts are more aged, like what would happen naturally over time. This line is actually more aged in the crevices, as if dust has been settling into them for years, and the raised elements have been polished.
My customer liked the detail in this frame, which he felt wasn't as matchy-matchy (yes, that's a technical term) as the first. But the coloring is definitely not as warm as our other choices, and we needed a mat that would help that contrast make more sense. This blue mat didn't really blend with anything in the art either, which helped the colors in the art pop out on their own.
So which is the "right" framing choice for this work? Everyone picks something different. Let us know what you think- which do you like? We'll show you which one our customers chose next week, and one of our commenters will win a copy of the book "Great Frame Design", which explores theory of frame design further!
