Custom milling, custom moulding, custom frames.

We’ve been making a lot of of one-of-a-kind frames since the first of the year, utilizing new materials and local artisans to both prototype new ideas and improve on the classic picture frame design elements we’re known for in San Diego.

As Southern California’s fine art framer, The Frame Maker has been honored to create custom milled and finished maple frames for work by Jasper Johns, Kiki Smith and Xu Bing, all in the first six weeks of the year.

We are honored to be the regular framer for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, which sends most of this kind of work to us in one way or another. (This year we are thrilled to be corporate sponsors of MCASD as well).

Xu Bing’s piece that we have in right now is from the excellent “Artists Respond!” show that just closed at MCASD Downtown. At 135″ long, it poses a number of significant challenges when it comes to the framing: structural integrity of the container, availability of suitable materials at sufficient size, archival nature of the mounting, etc.

Through a San Diego contemporary furniture maker, we’ve created perfectly scaled moulding in solid maple at 14′ rough lengths that were delivered today; full production on this piece begins tomorrow.

Apparently, we’ve become Southern California’s oversize fine art framer as well. The Kiki Smith piece we shipped last week SDSU’s University Gallery for the show “Animalkind” was 78″ x 106″ when finished, again with one of a kind maple moulding a full 4″ deep milled here in San Diego, with a custom grey finish designed and hand applied in our shop.

fitting matching maple spacers into the finished frame

fitting the art package into the frame

leaving the shop