My Framin' History, part 1

Stage One: Introduction to Custom Picture Framing.
I have been custom framing since 1983.  The first shop I worked in was Western Picture Frame, owned by the Luckey family.  This shop had been in the same family and location on NW 1st in downtown Portland since before the 1890 flood.  This was a cast iron front building similar to those at the right.  They had a photo on the design table that picture the shop with a boat tied in front and a window sign "We deliver by boat".  I learned history of framing, molding and techniques.  On the third floor were moldings dating back up to a hundred years on a mezzanine around the main floor.  I also saw and worked with the damage caused by early paper mats;  burns, weakness in the paper of the art, and discoloration caused by the lignin and acids in paper mat (see conservation/preservation).  I saw the damage done long before it became written, studied and published for the retail framer.  Museums had much of this knowledge, but until the '80's or so it wasn't seen as necessary by many retail frame designers.  Most of us know better now.