Officially, the term ‘Black Friday’ is supposed to refer to the day of the year when retail companies ‘go into the black’ (i.e. make a profit). Traditionally, the day after US Thanksgiving is when the Christmas Shopping Frenzy starts… and somehow the idea that we should all go out and grab what bargains there are to be had has crossed the Pond. Probably engineered by marketing guru types.
If we sound a bit ‘Bah Humbug’ about it, it is not because we disapprove of getting Christmas shopping done in a timely fashion – in fact, the reverse most definitely applies: we do occasionally have some folk arriving on Christmas Eve with a framing project, ever hopeful that we can work miracles (FYI, usually we can, but we infinitely prefer to have more time to make sure your framing is exactly as it should be!). Rather, we dislike the feeding frenzy atmosphere of buying for buying’s sake when many of the items on sale were overpriced to start with. And of course, there is a deal of truth in ‘There Is No Such Thing As A Bargain’.
A Vogue print that we framed recently using a stylish black frame…
Being in the Bespoke business, we believe that our work is already exceptional value for money, and don’t feel it would be appropriate to slash prices at the expense of quality, so on Black Friday we do what we do every day: make frames for our customers using the best materials and careful craftsmanship, so that each and every work is taken home by a happy client.
A selection of black frames for MinaLima…
Our Black Friday this year involves a big order from House of MinaLima, of which we have written before -(the graphics wizards behind the Harry Potter imagery have come to us on several occasions to frame exhibition materials for them), so this Friday is being spent making 30 or so black frames for them for part of the exhibition, using the large variety of the black mouldings at our disposal.
A corner of our ornate black Roccoco frame…
We may be busy making up a large number of black frames today and in the coming weeks, but we still enjoy each and every customer coming in with their own special project for framing. We are open weekdays from 09h00 to 17h00 and on Saturday mornings 09h00 to 13h00, and would be delighted to see you.
p.s. just because we’re nosy, we checked up a bit more about ‘Black Friday’, and it has a darker history than you’d imagine, given all the retail hysteria: it refers to the crash of the US gold market on September 24, 1869, when two rogue Wall Street financiers tried to fiddle the price of gold, sending the stock market into a nose-dive and bankrupting thousands.
Tilly