Headlines
From Babies To Banksy
12 July 2019
Niche Frames in Bristol is a brilliant example of a modern business that is embracing market forces and investing in digital equipment. 4walls recently caught up with director Joe Brewerton to hear about his success to date and his ambitions for the future.
Niche Frames opened as a picture framing shop in 1995 and was an initially a retirement plan for Joe’s father Peter, who spent most of his career as a highly respected contract framer for national art publishers and distributors.
Niche Frames is a one stop shop – offering picture framing, photographic printing, fine art giclee prints, canvases and posters, together with a large format scanning service.
While Bristol and the West Country is the main catchment area, Joe also delivers to London once a week due to a high demand.
The printing side of the business is run by Rupert Morley, with Pete Bilecki in charge of overall frame production; and in total they employ 14 people. “We hit the sweet spot in terms of scale a while ago,” Joe believes, “following on from significant investment in digital kit and new services.”
The offer is very broad with jobs ranging from £5 to £1,000. Given Joe’s Bristol base, readers won’t be surprised to hear that he has framed a few Banksy works in his time. The location of the shop in the up and coming Stokes Croft area also means they are surrounded by artists’ studios, creatives and collectors.
“It is not for us to judge what is important to customers and we sometimes frame memorabilia and photographs for people in a pretty fragile and emotional state. Births. Deaths. Marriages. People want to mark significant life events in different ways whether that is the arrival of a new born baby or to commemorate a grandparent’s bravery.
“Neither should we judge on what people view as art,” he adds. “It is really important to think and evolve what we offer. Do more. Do better. And understand the process.”
He sees opportunities with the digitally savvy younger generation. ‘’In an age when a lot of media is stored on devices and social media, it seems more popular to print the more special photos from a holiday and get them framed, rather than run a whole album’s worth’’.
An open window
Joe is not as active in terms of marketing as he would like to be (because he never has time!) - but Niche has some great social media content and following a visit from a retail analyst, took a big step in terms of merchandising. The analyst said consumers want to see activity not static objects. As a result, Joe has taken all the products out of his window and installed a large screen, which exudes energy and action, so customers and passers-by alike can get the vibe and see the team at work.
In his commitment to great customer service and also to long-term relationships and reputation, Joe is not afraid to send customers to other framers. “If a customer needs a specialist service that I am not 100% sure about, I would always prefer to send them elsewhere rather than damage my track record.”
Niche has a very wide and very large offering, but also has a conscience. For example, they support the Royal West of England Gallery, sponsoring their annual creative awards. “Promoting affordable art is really important to me and the team so we really like to do our bit with sponsorship and also by offering discounts to charities.”
Joe is optimistic about the future, despite the short-term challenge of Brexit, and is excited about the breadth of opportunity in the vibrant city of Bristol which is very much on the up culturally, economically and socially – and hopefully selling lots of Larson-Juhl mouldings along the way!
nicheframes.co.uk
Niche Frames is a one stop shop – offering picture framing, photographic printing, fine art giclee prints, canvases and posters, together with a large format scanning service.
While Bristol and the West Country is the main catchment area, Joe also delivers to London once a week due to a high demand.
The printing side of the business is run by Rupert Morley, with Pete Bilecki in charge of overall frame production; and in total they employ 14 people. “We hit the sweet spot in terms of scale a while ago,” Joe believes, “following on from significant investment in digital kit and new services.”
The offer is very broad with jobs ranging from £5 to £1,000. Given Joe’s Bristol base, readers won’t be surprised to hear that he has framed a few Banksy works in his time. The location of the shop in the up and coming Stokes Croft area also means they are surrounded by artists’ studios, creatives and collectors.
“It is not for us to judge what is important to customers and we sometimes frame memorabilia and photographs for people in a pretty fragile and emotional state. Births. Deaths. Marriages. People want to mark significant life events in different ways whether that is the arrival of a new born baby or to commemorate a grandparent’s bravery.
“Neither should we judge on what people view as art,” he adds. “It is really important to think and evolve what we offer. Do more. Do better. And understand the process.”
He sees opportunities with the digitally savvy younger generation. ‘’In an age when a lot of media is stored on devices and social media, it seems more popular to print the more special photos from a holiday and get them framed, rather than run a whole album’s worth’’.
An open window
Joe is not as active in terms of marketing as he would like to be (because he never has time!) - but Niche has some great social media content and following a visit from a retail analyst, took a big step in terms of merchandising. The analyst said consumers want to see activity not static objects. As a result, Joe has taken all the products out of his window and installed a large screen, which exudes energy and action, so customers and passers-by alike can get the vibe and see the team at work.
In his commitment to great customer service and also to long-term relationships and reputation, Joe is not afraid to send customers to other framers. “If a customer needs a specialist service that I am not 100% sure about, I would always prefer to send them elsewhere rather than damage my track record.”
Niche has a very wide and very large offering, but also has a conscience. For example, they support the Royal West of England Gallery, sponsoring their annual creative awards. “Promoting affordable art is really important to me and the team so we really like to do our bit with sponsorship and also by offering discounts to charities.”
Joe is optimistic about the future, despite the short-term challenge of Brexit, and is excited about the breadth of opportunity in the vibrant city of Bristol which is very much on the up culturally, economically and socially – and hopefully selling lots of Larson-Juhl mouldings along the way!
nicheframes.co.uk
