Is your framer still in business?

I'm writing this post because several notable fine art picture framing businesses and associated manufacturing plants have recently closed or entered administration due to high business rates, rising material costs, and economic pressures.

This post covers

• why framers are going out of business and closing
• how to protect your interests as an artist
• how to find a decent framer for artwork

A bit of a shocker

My tulip wood frames from Picture Frames of Shaftesbury

I was casually looking through my Memories on my personal FB account  yesterday - and the above pic came up in the context of an exhibition I was submitting artwork to in September - 12 years ago in 2014.

I idly put the name of the people "Picture Frames of Shaftesbury" who did an excellent job of my online ordered frames into Google - and nothing came up. Which I thought was a bit weird.

So I kept looking - and came across the announcement that they had closed down in 2025 and been dissolved (following voluntary liquidation) on 17 June 2026.

Being an accountant by profession, I went to Companies House and read the winding up documents and it was a very sad tale.

Then today I asked Google "framers going out of business" and they came straight back with yet more names and the reasons why

Google identified General Industry Pressures i.e. 

Independent framers across the UK report that escalating business rates, minimum order thresholds for materials, and the cost-of-living crisis are making traditional high-street shops unsustainable.

plus highlighted...

Recent Picture Framer Closures

• Picture Frames of Shaftesbury permanently closed in July 2025, resulting in six redundancies and the formal dissolution of the company on June 17, 2026.

The sudden closure left clients without their regular framing service and displaced local staff.

• Darbyshire Ltd: Closed on May 8, 2026, after 34 years of operating as a prominent fine art framer for major artists and galleries.
• Alec Drew Picture Frames Limited: This was a long-running specialist fine art framing business on Chelsea Green in London that closed and went into administration in June 2026 after 50 years in business.

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""Well that's all folks" After 50 years Alec Drew Picture Frames has closed"

Some like this chap have retired. Although his business had disappeared.

An extract from the Statement of Administrator's Proposal (i.e. the people who wind up the business under the Insolvency Act)

The Company is a long-established bespoke picture-framing business specialising in high quality custom framing, including conservation and museum-standard framing services. The Company built a reputation within the fine-art and framing sector for specialist craftsmanship, and its customer base spanned private individuals, collectors, artists and others seeking premium framing services.

Chelsea has experienced changes in recent decades, including rising property prices, changing retail patterns and increasing numbers of properties held as investment assets rather than occupied full-time residences. It is believed that these factors have contributed to reduced footfall for the business.

In addition, changing preferences toward digital photography and digital art display may have reduced the long-term demand for traditional picture-framing services compared with previous generations.

Macro-economic factors including uncertainty, inflation and pressure on household incomes can result in customers postponing non-essential purchases such as custom framing. Ever increasing costs for staffing, utilities and raw materials has resulted in tighter margins.

My recommendation

Check out your favourite framer and:

• make sure you get proper paperwork re your titles and ownership of whatever artwork you leave at a framers
• check whether the business is solvent (go and read the accounts on Companies House) 
• do not place work with them if they are close to becoming insolvent (i.e. your work will be stuck in the framers until the Adminsitrators agree release for the agreed fee)

but most of all, if they are still keeping their head above water make sure you do patronise them because they might not be there in future if you don't.

Plus don't forget to patronise those who set up new businesses off the back of the old ones. 

Like Artisan Framing Shaftesbury which grew out of the disappearance of the firm I used in the past.

What I was very pleased to see was how active they are at marketing themselves 

• on Facebook 
• on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/artisanframingshaftesbury/ in terms of showing what they can do, who they are doing work for, places they visit etc.
• on YouTube where they propose running a Framing podcast

To me it speaks of a business that realises it needs to work hard at marketing and can never assume that its old customers will be around forever.

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Framing 0n Art Business Info for Artists

I'll be updating my page about List of recommended picture framers in the Frame Art section of Art Business Info for Artists this weekend.

If you want to make sure your good frame keeps going, make sure you have told me about them!