Jayeness Molding Co. is Washington State’s leading framing wholesaler serving the picture framing industry across the State. With warehouses in Seattle and Spokane, the company serves both western and eastern Washington. Jayeness’s mission is to provide customers with the highest quality products and services in a helpful and efficient manner.

Jennifer Patterson is the company’s District Sales Manager. She has 20 years experience in the framing industry and has worked on both the west and east coast of the United States. The Picture Frame Guys caught up with Jennifer over lunch in a Redmond, Washington restaurant to ask her about her thoughts on the framing industry, including where it is and where it is going and what this means for the individual frame shop.

Q: How did you get into the picture framing business?
I got into it by accident really. The story is that I completed my first 2 years of college in art and design. To be brutally honest, art did not come naturally to me. I realized that I was not good enough to make a living from it. A project might have taken my classmates 2 hours, took me 10. So I decided to switch to a business administration major and keep art as a hobby.
After college, like so many other graduates, I was looking for full-time work. Between job searches, I kept having fun with my art, which of course required framing. My favorite frame shop at the time was a local Seattle store called U-Frame-It. They are still in business today. Anyway, back then you could just walk in and start playing with frame options. There was a table with matting options and customers were encouraged to explore options themselves. Of course, the frame shop still did the glass and mat cutting and all that, but customers could play a bit with matting colors and other framing options.

Q: So you made your own molding and matting decisions?
Pretty much. One day I was framing something and a customer there asked me for some advice. It was a causal conversation and I showed them a few mat and frame options that I thought would look good. Over time, I found myself chatting with other customers/artists. They asked me framing questions and I shared my thoughts. Free advice really.

One evening my home phone rings and it was the frame shop telling me they had an “awkward” question to ask me. I got really nervous because I could not imagine what I had done wrong.  Well, it turned out that customers kept on asking for me and each time they did the frame shop had to tell them that I was in fact not an employee but a customer.  So they were called me to offer me a job. They only had the budget to offer me a part time job, but needless to say I was thrilled!

Q: And you worked there?
Yes, for a while. A few months later I moved to Philadelphia with my then husband. Once there, I got a job in a frame shop without any difficulties however. And it was full time work. Over the years I fulfilled the roles of manager, then lead designer, then head framer.  This was back in the golden era of framing when frame shops had all these staff around.

Q: The industry has changed in the past 20 years?
Oh yes.

Q: How so?
Back in the day, there were 5-10 customers waiting in line at a store. That’s the visual thing that I remember. This industry had its heyday in the 1980’s and 1990’s; that’s the hard truth. There are no lines anymore and most frame shops are owner operated. In this most recent downturn everywhere one looks, frame shops are closing left right and center. This was true to an extent even before the economy turned down; but now it is unlike anything I have ever seen. Sadly, we are in a diminishing industry.

Q: What does this downturn signify for the industry?
It means is that frame shops will have to be all the more diligent and work harder for a customer’s business. It means that frame shops will have to step it up a notch.

Q: And what makes a “good” frame shop?
I once heard an industry executive at the Las Vegas show talk about this. His question was what are the 3 attributed that distinguish between a good versus a great retail frame shop?  The answer, which as he said it made total sense was “Experience, experience, experience”. What he meant was the experience that the customer has when in a frame shop. If it was truly wonderful, then that customer would be coming back and recommending the shop to friends.

So this means that a good shop is one that is innovative and design-driven shops. It must also be well lit and clean. Molding should be displaying neatly with well thought out framed pieces on the wall. I also think it is important to play some music. This creates a mood and puts the customer in the right frame of mind.
Once upon a time, 15 years ago, this was the case everywhere. But standards have slipped over the years. I think it is because some people view framing as a true career. These are the artisans. Others see it more of job and do not really care about creating beautiful framing projects. I think these guys will not make it in this environment where everything is down. Today if a consumer is going to frame something, they are going to make darn sure that they find a shop that will do a great job.

Q: What else is changing in the industry?
I have also seen a change in the molding industry. A few years ago I witnessed something that I did not like.  Here’s what happened: A new molding line launched and within a few weeks other manufactures were carrying the same designs. So now it was 3 sales reps from 3 different companies essentially showing the same product. It used to be that each molding house would come up with their unique designs. It was exciting. But today everybody is much more conservative and there is no so much real design. It’s as if frames have become commoditized.

Q: So if molding is becoming commoditized, does this mean that there is pressure from China and other low cost countries?
Well, I’ll be quite frank and say that China is the 800lbs gorilla in the room.  On the one hand, and I guess I’m speaking for myself as much as the rest of the industry, China can produce some real garbage. But on the other hand, some of the stuff coming out of the country is not bad at all.

The interesting thing with globalization is that while we may turn our noses up at China, we go crazy over anything produced in Italy. I haven’t really figured it all out yet.

Q: How has molding evolved over the past 20 years?
Leaps and bounds. I remember when we were all selling oak frames.  It was really in. Today oak is very much a thing of the past in the United States and you will not find any self-respecting interior designer using oak in their work. It looks way too much like kitchen cabinets. And who wants their frames to match their kitchen cabinets?

The simple metal frames were also was popular at about the same time. We’re talking 1970s and 80s. These were big at the poster stores in the malls. The manufacturers even made 12 foot molding which could be cut without any wasted yield to fit a 36 x 24 poster. Of course, nowadays poster shops that had maybe 200 posters are gone and have been replaced the by the internet where on a single site a buyer can browse over 2,000 posters.

Q: Where is the industry going?
The computer did not exist 30 years ago. 20 years ago there was no internet. Back in the 80s, the only thing a computer did was cut matting. And even this was seen rarely. Today everybody has a computer, and very few people do not use the internet. In light of these changes, I think that frame shops should embrace the technology.  This does not mean that computers should replace the framer. Instead I think that they should be used to enhance the experience.  And unfortunately, I see few frame shops experimenting with new technologies.  Maybe 1 in 30 is trying something new as it relates to technology. I think many more should.

Q: Do you have any closing thoughts?
I do. It is kind of a pet peeve of mine, but I feel it is important to mention. I’m speaking to all those people out there who have framing projects.  My advice is: do it right the first time. When faced with a framing project, a customer has many options, each which cost different amounts of money. My recommendation is to spend the money and do it right the first time; the dividends paid back will be well worth it.