We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rose Generazio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rose below.

Rose, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I worked in a lot of big box custom frame shops. One of the things that has always bothered me about these places is that a lot of them send your work off location. I also have always thought it was so odd that people would drag their art work to these stores and look at their art under these awful over head LED lights. I came up with the concept of “mobile” custom art framing to help people not only save a huge amount on custom framing but also be able to see their work with frame samples in a more realistic setting (example : in their home or office ). I also keep my prices very reasonable since I do not have a store front. Clients have given me some really great feedback about the service and I’m just so happy to be able to bring art and creativity to people.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My custom framing journey began when I was 16 (about 20 years ago) when I was hired to work in a custom frame shop located inside of a craft store. I later got a job at a different frame shop and more locally owned. I learned everything I needed to know about custom framing in my time there. I quickly fell in love with preserving people’s memories, art work, achievements and anything else beautiful and near and dear to people’s hearts. The joy I get in showing people the finished product and the way they light up just makes me so incredibly happy.

I ended up leaving for collage to pursue a degree in art from Ringling College of Art and Design. I learned so much about color, design and photography in my time there that has carried into my business in a wonderful way.

After college I moved back to Virginia where I decided to start my very own mobile custom art framing business. I started to build a client base when I was offered a full time job in marketing in Pittsburgh, PA where I currently reside. Moving meant I had to restart my side business while working a full time job. I have spent the last seven years doing that that. Working basically two full time jobs and running all over Pittsburgh with my custom framing samples .

One of the things I am most proud of is that I started this business on my own with no extra funding or partners but with the hell of my parents who put in the work. My parents fully supported me in chasing my dreams. My dad spent hours helping me turn my old bedroom into a the perfect frame shop that served me wonderfully for 5 year’s before we lugged everything up to Pittsburgh. I have been hustling like crazy over the last few years promoting myself and it has been so fun to finally see my hard work start to pay off.

I love getting to go to clients houses and seeing all their amazing homes and decor and how different everyone is. I have met so many wonderful people over the years. I have also had the chance to explore this amazing city while I drive to clients houses. Pretty sure I have stopped at 80% of the coffee shops in Pittsburgh on my way to appointments.

My brand is very must so leaning towards spooky season vibes. I love Halloween and fall so I did a little rebrand a couple years ago. I made everything bright green and purple and spooky. It’s been so fun working with that brand design.

I just want to help people preserve their beloved items. No matter what it is, I will make it work and find a frame that works in their budget and makes their work POP. It’s been such a dream getting to do this work.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing for me being a creative is when I return the finished, fully framed pieces to my clients and the joy they have seeing their pieces just be fully enhanced by the custom framing. I have been lucky enough to have a lot of clients who have trusted me enough in my skills to give me creative freedom and that has been the absolute best part of this.
I remember a client I had a few years ago in particular who had asked me to frame a bunch of her dads shirts. He had passed away and she wanted to memorialize him with his favorite shirts. I put together this huge frame just collage layout of all of these shirts. When I gave it to her I could feel her joy that she forever had this piece to remember her dad by and it was such a beautiful moment for me to witness. I love stuff like that and I am so always so happy to be apart of their journey.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I have had to unlearn when it comes to business – being from a sales background in custom framing – is the mindset of SELL SELL SELL and up-charge. When I worked in larger frame shops I was always determined to have top sales because that was how it worked in that world – top sales get raises. I hated that pressure. I also hated pushing people to add things to their frames they may not want like “oh here is this extremely expensive piece of glass that will not only protect your work from the sun but is also crystal clear” meanwhile they are putting the work in a room with no windows and they just paid way over what they should have for a fancy piece of glass in their frame. Now that I have my own thing and very little over head I have made it so that I can keep my prices reasonable for my clients who may not be able to afford framing otherwise. I will always make it a goal to make prices work for any budget. While I do understand businesses grow by selling and raising prices… as someone who didn’t always have the money to buy myself nice things, I try to make sure my prices work for all budgets because I think everyone deserves to have nice frames on their walls.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theframedame/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theframedame

Image Credits

I took all the photos – Unsure about the artists of the skeleton piece and the new orleans piece