We recently connected with Christophe Choquart and have shared our conversation below.
Christophe, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Our mission is to provide a space for art with a purpose or a cause. Whether we help local artists meet their public or promote International art such Australian Aboriginal Art or South African beaded Art, we love when our clients open their eyes to another culture. Our space is also here to help customers design a custom frame for their art or personal/sentimental objects. To do so, we provide a creative design space, full of a diversified range of artworks as well as a full selection of beautiful frames to enhance their Art.
Christophe, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I worked for 30 years spent in financial services. Then Covid hit the USA, I had just been furloughed, unsure I would get a call back. Then the phone rang. The LM FRAME & GALLERY’s owners were letting me know they were going out of business. I remember that phone call like if was yesterday, whereas my mind suddenly realized I might have found a possible career change. From Finance to Art.
Being an Art collector and gifted with a good eye for matching art with frames, I decided to purchaase the business and bring it back to life. Adding custom framing to art seems like a good model and I had been looking forward to opening a physical Art Gallery focused on Australian Aboriginal Art (www.aicontemporary.com is my online Aboriginal Art website). I alsowanted my gallery space to offer an opportunity for local artists to meet their public, a stepping stone for artists. Despite custom picture framing being new to me at the time, I had the vision that an Art Gallery, merged into a frame shop, could become a one stop shop for art, custom picture framing and other services such as art restoration.
Since purchasing the busy in July 2020, I hired a 40 year picture framing veteran to join make our frames, and an Oglethorpe Studio art major as our resident artist for art restoration and frame fitting. Today, our team of 5 is well equipped to address most of our clients’ needs. Also, as our interior designers like to say, we are the best kept artsy secret in East Cobb, GA.
Have you ever had to pivot?
After several decades in Europe, working in investment banking, and suffering too many bankruptcies (Lehman, Bear Stearns), I decided that I was done with this unreliable industry. Together with my American wife, we decided to relocate to the USA in 2015. Atlanta would be our new base, vibrant for the arts.
This was a bold move, letting go of our past life in France and moving to a new country without jobs. I knew I would have to reinvent myself at some point and that was it. Instinct. My dream was to open an art gallery and promote Australian Aboriginal Art. In the end, it took me 4 years and Covid, to turn the dream into reality, while working in yet another local financial services company. Unexpectedly, COVID opened a business opportunity to make my dream come true.
I took a bet on Art’s resilience and became a business owner for the first time in my life. I had managed teams before and knew how hard it was to maintain a happy and committed work environment. I also believe employees need time and space where they can experiment on their creative skills. Hence, I keep encouraging them to use their work to explore their creative sides. We are thus able to offer Art commission and restoration. We also promote “customized custom frames” for amazing unique designs.
The greatest challenge remains to keep the business growing despite the ups and downs of retail. As an employer, I have found that being accountable to our loyal clients is also a key to success. Being also agile at managing cashflow and staying open to external opportunities to grow has helped us navigate the past 3 years of supply chain disruptions and cost inflation. It feels honored to serve our community with they art related needs.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Accountability and patience are key to grow a loyal clientele. Most clients entering our store have some apprehension about the custom framing process. Custom framing has a reputation of being expensive. The main reason : custom (ie. one of a kind). The recent inflation environment has not helped. Also, the vast choice of mouldings can make it stressful to know which one will best enhance the art. I had to make it a great experience for all our clients.
In order to make the process easier and fun, we have created an Art focused design studio space. Clients walk into an Art Gallery and browse through the store feeding on beautiful art all around. By the time they reach our design desks, they have the calm and creative mindset that gets them ready to work on their framing project(s).
The key to growing our clientele is to help them be in control. We explain how we pick the best mat and frame through a series of questions about their home’s feel, the look they are looking and the budget they are comfortable with. We have a good eye and could try to force a design recommendation. However we never pressure clients. We show them various options so they understand how each can influence the look of their art. They leave our store happy with the experience and looking forward to doing other framing projects.
We also like to ask about the history of each framed piece. I like to say that we frame stories and memories to be forever beautiful displayed. From Jerseys to kids’ art and even a Picasso, we give quality attention to our customers’ wishes. Custom framing is a real art (including production) and can deliver 100% happiness.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lmframeandgallery.com
- Instagram: lmframeandgallery
- Facebook: lmframeandgallery
Image Credits
LM FRAME AND GALLERY