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

The ArtReview Power List 100 in the last 20 years (2005, 2015, 2025)

It's always worthwhile to keep an eye on what's changing in the upper echelons of the art genre/business - what's changing and what's not.  

The turn of the year is a good time to reflect on how things are changing....

ArtReview's Power 100 is an annual ranking of the most powerful people in Art and is always worth a look.  

• The core concept of the list revolves around the mechanisms and impact of influence in the art world.
• A lot of what changes tends to filter down over time - so it's a bit like looking into the future. 

Changes in the ArtReview Power 100:
who was at the top in the last 20 years 
(see FULL TABLE below)

This post looks at 

• who are the Power 100 in 2025 
• how the list has changed RADICALLY in the last 20 years. 

and gives me an opportunity to give my very analytical brain a work out - and to look at the trends over time.

The Power 100 is ArtReview’s annual portrait of power in the artworld. It is an attempt to describe the individuals and groups that have shaped what art has been seen and how it has been seen over the past 12 months (broadly speaking, the calendar year). And yes, that is an indication that ArtReview views the artworld as, essentially, a social structure: a network of relationships that are triggered by the actions of individuals. 

They define this further

The criteria for inclusion are:

• that each person of the Power 100 has had an active influence on the art being made and shown now;
• that influence has to be active

Of course, it really all depends on WHO you ask..... 

The Top 10 in the Power 100 2025

The Visual Art Podcasts on Apple

I'm interested in podcasts about art and artists. I'd love to hear from you - via Facebook or Instagram about the ones you really like - and WHY.

As some of you will know, one of the reasons for my reduced level of blogging is the essential need for me to walk every day for at least an hour. 

• It's the only way to keep my severe osteoarthritis from getting worse i.e. keep me mobile and prevent me from stiffening up. 
• I also remember listening to Stephen Fry talk about how he lost weight when he started walking everywhere - and how this was much easier after he discovered audible books and podcasts.

So my audible listening to was triggered by trying to lose weight prior to my ankle surgery - and getting fit for surgery - back in the early 2020s when my daily limit for steps was strictly no more than 3.5k steps if I didn't want to be crippled the next day. Podcast listening then was dictated by how long my walk took me!

Now I aim for at least 5k steps a day and one of the ways I keep walking regularly is to listen to podcasts. I've been known to take the longer route home to make sure I get to the end of the podcast!

Art Podcasts on Apple

I only have Apple devices so all my art podcasts are limited to Apple and the BBC. 

• The BBC now ignores art so effectively it's what's on Apple. 
• I'm not a huge fan of Spotify 
• but am an Audible subscriber - which doesn't seem to have art podcasts.
• Some also have a Youtube equivalent where you get the visual version and that means can play through your screens or television.

Here's a taster of what you get if you put "art' into Apple Podcasts Search. 

getting their pics shown when I search for "art"
probably means these are the top ranking art podcasts.

BELOW are some of the podcasts I follow - although I have to emphasise how much I listen to them varies a LOT.

• Mostly because I always hit latest episodes first - the podcasts which get the most frequent listen are those who produce the most episodes - as in not behind "special subscriber" barriers. 
• They also have to look interesting to get past the other (more addictive) podcasts I listen to.

The list below is more or less alphabetical (minus "the").