MARCH 18, 2010 ISSUE
Business Spotlight
Framing by Lori—Meeting Your Framing Needs for 14 Years, From Instruments to Paintings to Wedding Gowns
Dale and Lori Tucker of Framing by Lori are as enthusiastic about their craft now as they were 14 years ago when they decided to go into business together. The couple enjoys the challenge of meeting customers’ framing needs, and the variety of the projects ensures that no day is boring. Photo by Corinne Saunders“One little boy thought we were a boomerang store,” recalled Lori Tucker, co-owner of Framing by Lori with husband Dale, with a smile. “He thought we were the greatest store in Boone.”
While the multitude of corner pieces the boy mistook for boomerangs are really samples of different styles of frames, the store has indeed become a favorite for many since it opened 14 years ago.
“Most of our business is repeat,” Lori said, adding that local artists make up “a huge part of our clientele.”
She added that some loyal customers, even after moving to Asheville, Virginia or Atlanta, Ga., “still come to us to do their framing.”
Before getting into the framing business, Florida natives Lori and Dale both worked as full-time photographers, Lori said, adding that Dale still does photography, and many framed wildlife shots hanging in the store are his.
One of the studios Lori worked for as a photographer had a frame shop attached to it, and she thought framework would be fun, she said.
The years in the business have proved her right, and she and Dale both enjoy framework because of the variety, they said.
“You never know what a customer is going to bring in to be framed,” Lori said. “One day it could be a signed NFL football jersey, and the next day it could be a painting someone’s grandmother carried from Italy. We have framed a lot of interesting things over the years: letters from the Civil War, a snakeskin, Purple Hearts, wedding gowns…you name it, we’ve put it in a frame. It could be a $4 poster or a $10,000 painting.”
“We’re open for any challenge,” Dale said.
And framing is challenging, Lori said.
“Framing is one of those arts that is still done by hand,” she said. “We cut and build the frames, we cut the mats and assemble everything ourselves. Really, except for the new acid-free materials available now, it hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years or so. If done properly, [framing] should last for several generations.”
Framing by Lori has won four national shadowbox framing competitions—for one piece about the Beatles, one about the Titanic, a saxophone piece and one basketball piece, Lori said.
Every frame shop in the country is invited to participate in the shadowbox competition, which is for 3D framed works, she said.
The competition generates about 2,000 entries, which are then narrowed down to 10 and voted on by peers in the framework business, she explained, and the winner receives money and a ribbon.
“After seeing one of our shadowboxes, the Doc Watson Museum had us build a replica of his guitar,” Lori said.
The finished guitar replica was eight feet long, with Watson’s Grammys, CDs and a battery-powered stereo inside it—all done in a way in which Watson could touch it to know what it looked like, she said.
The guitar is displayed at the Doc and Merle Watson Folk Art Museum at Old Cove Creek School, she said.
Lori and Dale moved to the High Country in December 1989, Lori said, adding that she loves both the area and the people here.
“I actually bought property up here in the 1970s,” Dale added.
“I worked at another frame shop in Boone for 10 years,” Lori said. “When the owner retired, I thought it would be a good time to open my own shop. I talked Dale into quitting his job and we have never looked back.
“We emptied our savings account, borrowed money from some friends and just took a leap of faith,” she continued. “I’m glad we did. We didn’t want to wake up one day and wonder what would have happened if we didn’t at least give it a shot.”
In October 1997, Framing by Lori opened in Shoppes at Shadowline—the same shopping center where it is still located—but in the space next to Harris Teeter, Lori said.
The store’s third employee, Bill Hartman, worked with Lori for six years at the other frame shop, and she brought him along when they started the new shop, she said.
“In my opinion, he’s the best frame builder in town,” Lori said. “[He’s] very meticulous.”
Hartman suggested that Lori attach her name to the new frame shop because, after 10 years at the other store, regular customers knew her by her first name, she said.
Dale joked about feeling left out—and noted that the first business cards were black, “so I couldn’t even write my name on them.”
But the cards are white now, and include both names under the shop’s name, and as a team, Lori and Dale are ready to meet all your framing needs.
In December 2009, they moved to the current space, which was a welcome change, because after 14 years, “we were wanting to rearrange” and “now we have it exactly how we want it,” Lori explained.
“We work very hard to do every single project that comes in our doors perfectly,” she said “My favorite part is when [customers] come to pick up their art. It’s like Christmas every day. People are always happy when they pick up their work. I love that.”
Framing by Lori is located at 240-B Shadowline Drive in Boone. Shop hours are 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. The store is closed Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 828-262-0033 or click to www.framingbylori.com.
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