Is the recession affecting customers tastes in mouldings

[Not your average framer]

Is it just me, or are less customers choosing minimalist or plain shaped mouldings. Since Christmas sales are definitely down and a lot of the mouldings which appeared to be "out" appear to be making a come back. Gold sight edges were not very popular with younger and more trendy customers, but now they are buying them again. Sales of very plain "clinical" looking mouldings, (the minimalist stuff), seems to have died and now customers like a bit of shape to mouldings. Darker mouldings are getting more popular and so are painted mounts, which are a good way of using up no longer popular mount colours.

Is anyone else noticing anything similar happening?

[Dermot]

When you read the history of frames the same trend occurred after the Second World War….a very unassuming approach to framing, at that time virtually nobody had bean to spend….

[Moglet]

Is it just me, or are less customers choosing minimalist or plain shaped mouldings.

Haven't noticed that, Mark. If anything, an increasing number of customers are going for the shkinniest looking things I have on the boards - including fillips!

I don't know whether it's a "lack of exposure to something different" in my local market, but I have almost always had a hard time getting across the aesthetic benefits of wider mounts and mouldings to a substantial proportion of new customers that come my way. That said, once they see the results, it's never a problem with designing for repeat orders!

[Jonny2morsos]

Not sure it is the recession driving what we are selling most of but the current best sellers with us are plain oak (mostly veneer) and very dark stains (wenge colour) all in simple flat profiles BUT decent sized mounts.

John.

[Moglet]

... very dark stains (wenge colour) all in simple flat profiles ...

Blimey! The statistics are right: been selling a lot of those for the past 2½ years!

[Roboframer]

I don't think the recession affects tastes, just what people expect to pay for things.

A house valued at £250,000 pre-recession could be £225,000 now, maybe a bit more, maybe a lot less, depending on the postcode. A car pre-recession costing £24,000 could be £19,000 now.

But those things were not made to order - we make things to order and all the stuff we are making them from is going up; not down. But the things we make them from are (mainly) mass produced.

Tastes here have not changed one iota - it's always a struggle trying to explain that the mount/moulding combination may suit the decor but not the artwork, same as trying to explain how a decent width of mount does not 'dominate' the picture at all, and, just because it may be an oil on canvas, needing no mount, how the same narrow (in relation to the mount) moulding that may be used with a mount looks like carp next to the artwork.

But when you show them physical examples of what you are talking about and they absolutely hate it, giving it 'All I can see is that big mount/frame" and 'All my stuff at home has a one inch mount and/or a skinny frame' what are you to do? Say "Ah well, not your fault you have NO TASTE - SCUMBAG!" Or just get on with their (informed) choice?

[Jonny2morsos]

A slight deviation but is it Wenge pronounced - Wenj or Wenger - or something else?

Also is Obeche pronounced - Obeshay or Obeechy or again something else?

Or does it depend on wether you come from Yorkshire (Hull) or Surray?

john.

[Roboframer]

'Wenge' is pronounced 'Veng-uh' - but I'll pronounce it 'Wenj' until I meet a German that can correctly pronounce 'Rhosllanerugog'

Obeche = oh-beeshy or Er-beeshy if you are from Hull

[Moglet]

A slight deviation but is it Wenge pronounced - Wenj or Wenger - or something else?

Also is Obeche pronounced - Obeshay or Obeechy or again something else?

Or does it depend on wether you come from Yorkshire (Hull) or Surray?

john.

Over here, I've heard them typically pronounced "Wen-gay/Wen-gee" and "obeshee".

[framejunkie]

Over here, I've heard them typically pronounced "Wen-gay/Wen-gee" and "obeshee".

In London these seem to be the most common pronounciations too.

Back to the topic, though. In general my customers seem to be spending a little less money, but given that most of my work is for artists prior to exhibition i suppose they rightly think they have less chance of making sales and recouping their outlay. I'm selling lots of darker hardwoods - walnut; jatoba(thanks to Lion for finding sustainably sourced tropical hardwood and making me relax my stricture against it!); and reclaimed jarrah(beautiful timber from Australia - managed to source some 100year old floorboards to machine down, but now need some more as i sold it all!). To keep the cost down people seem to be buying darker hardwoods instead of the stained ash and oak which have been my biggest sellers for several years.

Is it just me, or are less customers choosing minimalist or plain shaped mouldings.

Also there seems to be a move in the London gallery market away from the minimalist look towards more decorative framing. Still only a small proportion, but it seems that the hegemony of the thin flat-faced minimal frame is gradually being eroded. Thank god - i need a change!

In London i have the feeling that lots of the trendy young types are saying 'to hell with the recession' and dressing even more outrageously and adopting more flamboyant tastes. The East-End on a Saturday night looks like 1920s Berlin - including a lot of period dress - and i don't just mean the 1980s revival, or the revival of the 1980s revival of the 1950s. I mean 20s and Victorian. No 17th Century yet, but i expect to see large stacked up periwigs on Shoreditch High St in the very near future!

I've just got to find some time to work on my Steampunk framing look and I'll clean up!

[Steve N]

Hi JGF's
It's hard for me to notice a difference, since I only open my new business in November last year, but the trend seems to for Black , White, Box frames, Wide Scoops and now Black aluminium, Hand Painted ( Black or White). Since I opened I only have used one brown with a gold sight edge, a few gold and silvers, my customers are mainly in their mid twenties and thirties, some are married, they bring in limited editions of graffiti art such as Banksy and Nick Walker. They could be paying anything from £450.00 to well over £1000.00 for the print, all are framed in conservation glass and conservation/museum mounts and conservation standards framing. I have been recommended on the Banksy and Nick Walkers forums, I had one customer come from Northampton to see me in Bath ( a trip of about 130 miles each way), he brought 8 limited editions with him. But nearly all of them go for Black or White framing - I Want Some Colour In My Life

Steve N

[Jonny2morsos]

I also have a small band of urban art collectors who come to me for framing their Banksy, Nick Walker, Micallefs etc.

Mostly we frame these in black deep rebate mouldings (their choice) with conservation materials used throughout + Tru Vue/Mirogard Plus. However we have recently been doing some more ornate mouldings and ready made swept frames (black ones from Arqadia) the latter is not so good as they are actually a fairly cheap option when compared to a frame we make up.

You will find some of my work on the Banksy/Walker and Micallef forums also.

These customers I find are worth special treatment as they tend to send their friends in and come back on a regular basis. I would imagine you could be well positioned to take advantage of this market with the urban art scene being focussed in your area.

John.

[Steve N]

Hi John,
Yeah, you are right about treating them special, I spent about two and half hours with the guy from Northampton, it' was his first time having anything framed, walking him through the process of how and why to do things the right way. I have some enquires about ornate and swept frames again in black or white, I made a stacked moulding out of two Simons mouldings 0147/0017 on top and 0349/0017 cut on it's side with the rebate pointing up, glue and pin the other on top, looks great, but these two mouldings on their own are popular. Being close to Bristol where a lot of the urban art comes from, I'm in a good place, a lot of my customers come from Bristol, and with the reviews I'm getting, also getting a lot of repeat custom, I'm happy to go the extra mile for them, as they say it's all money in the bank.

Steve

[Jonny2morsos]

Arqadia 684 167 348 has been popular especially on the large Nick Walker TMA series prints and its only £3.55 metre so gives then some change to splash out on speciality glass.

John.

[kev@frames]

same as last "recession" - bigger mouldings, more expensive mouldings, metal, wide and deep solid ash and oak, higher end has got easier to sell, TVCC easier to sell, budget framing choices are hardly looked at lately in our shop.
best february/march in over 10 years in order quantities and £ over the counter.

Cant figure it, really. No recession here (yet).

Plenty of artists who used to sell in london brighton glasgow galleries have "come home" and brought their framing with them, as the local art sales seem pretty bouyant.

Higher end an "preservation focussed" work is certainly on the up. I guess that our town is supposed to have the second highest footfall of shoppers in the county outside of the county city (truro) helps a bit.

Online has gone absolutely daft as well for the entire year so far.

One thing I have noticed a lot more lately, although people are spending more on higher end mouldings/framing, they expect a lot more attention and time in "consultation" at the shop counter.

[Darth Framer]

What we've found in recent times is a large increase of 'make do and mend' jobs coming through the door. Cutting mounts to fit artwork into customer frames seems to have definately increased.
Having said that there has also been a significant proportion of original artwork coming to us which customers have aquired at auction.This has meant a more traditional approach - a chance to dust off some of those Victorian profiles.
Its strikes me that people with a bit of cash at the moment are investing their money in art as it offers a better return than letting it sit in the bank. Indeed collectables generally - our medal expert we use to source ribbon etc says business has never been better for him at the moment with people specifically asking to buy particular medal sets which will appreciate in his opinion.

[kev@frames]

yes same here, more repair jobs. Also art sales seem bouyant locally. Talking to some of the local gallery owners it seems that some people are under the misapprehension that artists here are struggling, so they are wrongly expecting to get art at knockdown prices - when in fact many artists that we know seem to be having excellent sales, particularly in the £500 - £2500 range at present.

One well known gallery has a gallery in Truro (the county city) and one in Penzance, where we are. The owner has decided that the "city types" seem like they prefer to spend money getting their nails done or the BMW valeted, whilst down 'yer people are buying more original paintings than ever. Its a funny old recession. We can live with chipped nails and rusty beemers