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We started young and fresh in 2015 and spent our first years honing our craft, putting out products that we’re proud of, learning a huge range of new skills and making a lot of mistakes. All we really cared about was making frames as well as we could and supporting artists. The business side of things wasn’t a high priority – framing can be a complex business and we’ve fallen short in some areas. But as we grow and take on new staff and responsibilities we know it’s time to bring the business side of things up.

There’s a lot we want to change about how we do business. We want to make it easier for more people to use us whatever their budget, to be more efficient, to be able to pass Simon’s knowledge on to our staff, and to do better by the environment. It’s been our intention to make these changes for a while now, but the problem is we’re so busy we never have the time to sit down and create a solid plan for how to actually make these improvements a reality. On top of that our workshop has gotten crowded and inefficient as Simon is inundated with orders. For this reason we’ve decided to close on Mondays and Tuesdays until we’re ready to launch our next phase. During this period Simon will be framing two days a week, and Joe will be in two days as well.

During this period our opening times will be:

Sun, Mon, Tues: Closed

Weds-Sat: 10am-5pm

We may have to close some lunch times because we’ll be short staffed during this period. If you’re planning a visit between 12:30-2pm it’s best to check ahead that someone will be in to see you. It’s always a good idea to book an appointment in any case to avoid clashes.

Our workshop needs a thorough clean-down, so we’ll be closed from 20th May – 28th May to make progress with that and to finish a large framing project.

look how tidy it used to be!

framing lead times

All work that we have in will be completed in as short a time as we can. In the long term we aim to bring our lead time right down, but we can’t do this without a solid strategy and systems in place. We will always do our best to deliver to tight deadlines where necessary. We understand that artists often aren’t given much notice, especially when it comes to being selected for open exhibitions. Please get in contact with us to discuss your project, even if it has a tight deadline. If your framing project isn’t urgent then we appreciate your patience: this helps us to support artists and your continued support means we can cover our overheads during this period.

printing, scanning and graphic design

These services will continue as usual. If you’re after printing then take note that we always print on a Friday. From now onward scanning will be done on a Friday too unless an appointment is booked for another day. The graphic design department will continue on as usual.

best ways of contacting us

In general it’s usually best to email us rather than phone us, this is because we can’t always get to the phone – if we’re mid-way through a process we won’t be able to stop without ruining the frame. This will be particularly relevant during this development phase because there will normally only be one member of staff working at once.

when will we be all systems go with the next phase of Mount?

We’re not putting a time limit on our explorations. We’ve tried to make improvements before: completely shutting down for a few weeks at a time to try and get on top of things. This hasn’t worked for us. Things took longer than expected and we never managed to conclude our plans. So this time around we’re staying open throughout so you can still use us, and we’re taking as long as we need to.

how will Mount change in the next phase?

We don’t know for sure what form it will take but there are several aims and objectives. What we do know is that we want to be more efficient, and to be totally transparent so our clients have complete knowledge of the process. We want it to be easier to use us, whatever your budget. And we want to make it less daunting to find the best frame design. Our lead times could be as short as one week if we get the right systems in place, so we’ll be working on that. One of our core aims is to offer excellent customer service – we’ll be focusing on how to deliver on that aim more effectively.

Before going pro as a framer Simon studied Wildlife and Conservation management at Sparsholt College. He knows what makes for a sustainably managed wood in wildlife terms (as opposed to economically sustainable mono-culture plantations). The picture framing industry is at the very best supplied with FSC grade timber (usually mono-culture forests, no good for wildlife but at least not from sensitive rain forests and swamps). The environment or people or both have paid the price when it comes to the very cheapest frames. We want to offer British-sourced timber from sustainably managed woodlands. This won’t be our exclusive offering because the cost shifts from the environment paying to our customer paying, but we want everyone to have this option. We’ll see what shape this takes…

Another element is that Simon has worked 50-60+ hour weeks for four years without many days off. During that time his mum had a stroke and his father died. It’s taken its toll and he realises that if he carries on at the same intensity he’s going to do himself harm. So we’ll be making sure all our staff have a good work-life balance from now on, including Simon and Jennifer.