Holton Studio Frame-Makers

Description

Left to right: Eric Johnson, Trevor Davis, Tim Holton. Holton Studio Frame-Makers is the studio of frame-makers Timothy Holton and Trevor Davis. After 18 years in picture framing, Timothy Holton ( biography ; interview with Tim ) founded Holton Studio Frame-Makers in 1993 at its current location in Emeryville, California (in the San Francisco Bay Area, next to Berkeley and Oakland). Originally called Holton Furniture and Frame, its mission was to operate as a designer/maker studio in the tradition of the Arts and Crafts Movement, producing wooden frames, mirrors, lighting and occasional furniture. In 1999 the name of the business was changed to reflect our focus on framing and our expertise in frame-making — Tim’s primary trade since 1975. Along with Tim, the artisans that make up the Studio are Trevor Davis and Eric Johnson. While Tim, as owner, gets to have his name on the shingle over the door, Trevor and Eric are every bit as instrumental to making the 600-700 frames the shop produces a year. Trevor joined the studio in the winter of 1998. Raised in Berkeley, in a family of Arts and Crafts enthusiasts — the metal work of his father, Audel Davis, is highly regarded in Arts and Crafts circles — he has brought to Holton Studio an enormous talent for frame-making and design. A fourth generation Californian and an avid fisherman and backpacker, he spends as much time as he can wandering the landscape of his native state. While Tim’s frame-making time is limited by sales, design and operational responsibilities, Trevor is in the woodshop full-time continually honing his craft. With a keen eye for paintings and the pictorial arts, his sensibilities are also key to framing design as well as the direction of the gallery. Eric Johnson came to the Studio in January of 2006, a transplant from El Paso, Texas. A former student at California College of the Arts, he's an accomplished painter — and loaded with the expertise to make him our crackerjack finisher. In addition to this vital role, he often assists Trevor and Tim in joining and sanding frames. Not the least of his jobs is packing and shipping frames, making sure they reach our customers looking as good as they did when they left our hands. DESIGN. The art of framing begins with designing the right frame for a particular picture. Frame designs are developed by using corner samples to establish wood and finish, and size and proportion relative to the matting (where matting is used) and the picture. Samples also help establish the frame design, although because our capacities aren’t limited to the corner samples on hand, they often simply provide the basis for new designs. Our goal is the optimum enhancement of each picture in its individuality and larger architectural surrounding, and a setting that is in every way harmonious with the picture — with respect to line and form, proportion, color, texture and mood. The well-framed picture is in its ideal home and is hard to imagine in any other place but that frame.

Products & services

Similar companies nearby