The Art of Framing

The Studio Consultation Designing Your Custom Frame

Rashid Jalili Owner & Master Framer Jason J. Duke Digital Gallery Director & Curator
The classic, sepia-toned storefront of the Abbot Art custom framing factory and studio in New York, welcoming local clients for bespoke design consultations.

The Studio Doors Are Open: Walking into a custom framing facility for the first time should feel inspiring, not intimidating. At the Abbot Art studio in New York, our doors are open to everyone—from professional interior designers to first-time art buyers. We strip away the confusion of custom framing and act as your personal architectural consultants, ensuring your artwork gets the exact museum-grade presentation it deserves.

In This Studio Guide

  • The Design Process: How we narrow down 1,000 corner options to the perfect aesthetic fit.
  • Budget Collaboration: Transparently scaling materials to meet your specific financial comfort zone.
  • Flexible Consultations: How we collaborate with you, whether you walk into our factory or consult over the phone.

The Design Table

A blank wall of 1,000 frame corners is overwhelming to almost everyone. The first thing we do when you arrive at our New York studio is remove that anxiety. You will never be asked to just "pick something." Instead, we start at the design table.

We carefully lay your artwork flat on a clean, acid-free surface. We ask you about the room it will hang in—is the space modern, traditional, or eclectic? Based on your answers, our designers will pull 5 to 10 highly curated corner samples. We physically layer these corners over your artwork alongside custom-cut matboards, allowing you to instantly visualize exactly how the color, depth, and wood grain interact with your piece under professional daylight-balanced gallery lighting.

Connecting With Our Studio

We understand that every client’s schedule and location is different. Whether you are a local Long Island artist or calling from across the country, we offer multiple ways to access our master framers.

The Factory Walk-In

Our New York factory is open to the public. Bring your artwork directly to our design table. We encourage walk-ins, allowing you to physically touch the moldings, compare museum mats, and collaborate face-to-face with the artisans who will actually build your frame.

Phone Consultations

Not local? No problem. Give us a call and speak directly with a master framer. We routinely guide clients through molding profiles, archival matting choices, and custom sizing over the phone, ensuring you get expert advice without ever leaving your home.

Digital Pre-Visualization

For seamless remote ordering, our upcoming digital framing tool allows you to upload your artwork, apply hundreds of custom corners, and finalize your design online. Combined with a quick phone call, it ensures absolute precision before your piece goes into production.

The Overwhelming Wall

Do not let decision fatigue force you into a boring frame.

When customers try to navigate a wall of 1,000 frame samples by themselves, they often get overwhelmed and default to a basic, thin black frame just to get it over with. While black frames have their place, defaulting to them robs your artwork of the architectural gravity and warmth it deserves.

The Solution: Trust the collaborative process. Tell us your budget up front, and let our designers do the heavy lifting. We will curate the perfect intersection of your financial comfort zone and high-end aesthetic design, ensuring you leave excited about the final piece.

The Consultation Vault

Answering common questions to prepare you for your studio visit.

Walk-ins to our New York studio are always welcome during normal business hours. However, if you are bringing in a highly complex piece, a massive oversized canvas, or looking to curate an entire multi-frame gallery wall, we highly recommend calling ahead so we can reserve dedicated time at the design table for you.
A standard custom framing consultation typically takes 15 to 30 minutes. We move efficiently, but we never rush you. Our goal is to ensure you feel 100% confident in the wood profile, the matting colors, and the glazing type before we finalize the production order.
Yes! You can bring in canvases that are already stretched on wooden bars, or you can bring in raw, rolled canvas. If your canvas is rolled, we provide professional canvas stretching services right here in the studio to tension it perfectly before we build the frame.

Visit the Studio

Ready to elevate your artwork? Bring your piece to the Abbot Art factory in New York, or simply give us a call. Sit down at the design table with our master framers and let us guide you to the perfect architectural display.