12 Years of Frameworks: Speech by Founder & Owner Claire D'Orsay

When I cut my first frame from wood I found on the Graefestrasse,

Angela Merkel was only halfway through her chancellorship,

“Happy" was playing everywhere, and nobody could conceive of ChatGPT.

We know a lot has changed.

But fortunately,

picture framing is 2000 years old,

our craft is still here,

people still want our frames

and we are still growing.

Why celebrate 12 years?

Because we want to!

Because we missed our 10th year anniversary and because 12 is a cyclical number.

There are 12 hours on the clock, 12 months in a year.

12 is symbolic across cultures. It is a perfect excuse,

to stop and talk about one of our favourite subject:

memory.

In the cycle of 12 years we managed to build well over 20.000 frames.

Better yet, 10.000 of these frames were made from upcycled wood. Which means we cut down old doors and floorboards instead of trees,

and we gave them a new life somewhere.

It has been a unique core principle of Frameworks from the very start.

Especially now when we are experiencing some wild weather,

every tree saved feels necessary,

every frame sold

a little win.

The wood literally frames,

but at Frameworks

it is about the emotion that you have towards an object.

You rejoice

and you cherish something,

and you choose us

to curate!

To build a shrine around it. 

And honestly, we love it.

Because 12 years will turn a student into a father of 3.

12 years has seen people pass away, dogs adored, and artworks purchased.

You've brought in stories of your travels,

your family,

your passions,

and your homes.

In last month’s newsletter, I talked about how I started 12 years ago in a pool, Stattbad wedding ( thank you Arne).

It is hard to comprehend where we are now. The team grew, we have two locations in Berlin, and we built an ecommerce shop.

In 2025 with Carsten, we founded artframers.com  with the goal to digitalise the custom framing industry.

And now we have AI to support us with making Claire into your personal framing Avatar,

But more about that later.

Because the truth is,

the focus has remained the same:

Your memories         are valuable

and Art        looks better framed.

----

So some quick thank yous, both old and new.

First, our core team: Steven, Marlene and Sonja.

They are the people who make sure Frameworks actually operates every single day.

And when we are really busy, we have

Moritz, Tim, Valentin, Lilika and Colin

Emotionally those I love are here, and they deal with my BS all the time.

My partner Tess

My consigliere Philip.

Julia, so happy to have you in my life.

And a special thanks to Hoa for being our coffee barista bartender extraordinaire, and   Tamara, who unfortunately is not here tonight, even though she organized this entire evening.

Lastly, Frameworks literally wouldn’t exist without

Nadine, Wolfgang, Barbara, Udo, Thomas, Mareike and Tom.

Most important is my mentor Doddridge, who is no longer with us, and who taught me everything about framing. God bless him.

----

So tonight, we celebrate our first 12 year cycle, on Berlin's Long Night of Museums, with some wonderful humans, some frames, and of course, some really nice memories. 

Enjoy it and be sure to ask each other, “what item did you first frame here at frameworks?” 

Thanks for coming :)

Love ya,

Claire 

Founder and Owner of Frameworks Berlin & artFramers.com