The Framers Forum

Hello fellow framers,

I hope the new year sees everyone happily busy but with a bit more time to plan for the year ahead. As part of this I am looking to see if there would be interest in attending a guild branch event in the south west? I am based in North Somerset and was hoping to draw people from Bristol, Bath, Somerset, and beyond (as far as people are willing to travel). This would be open to both Guild members and non members.

I joined the Fine Art Trade Guild last year and have already benefitted from the Scholarship and support from the Framers helpline and trainings materials on the website. However, as a relatively new framer I was disappointed to hear that there is not currently any local branch of the Guild or events where I might meet other framers and share knowledge locally. Well I figure that you cannot just wish for things, you must help make them happen! So I have found myself volunteering to help set up some branch events if there is some interest from other framers?

So what I need to know is would you be interested in meeting other framers once or twice a year? Would a meeting on a Sunday afternoon work for most people and if we were to arrange a few speakers for each meeting, what topics would you be interested in hearing about? Would presentations on the specialist glazing options, specific techniques or suppliers, social media skills, pricing or other topics interest you most?

Also how far could you travel? and would it be helpful to arrange a location accessible by public transport or do most people drive anyway?

Alongside any meetings I wondered if there would be any interest in setting up a local framers WhatsApp group? If there is no interest in physical meetings would a social media group be a good way to support each other?

Any feedback or ideas would be gratefully appreciated! And please feel free to share this with any other framers you know who might be interested!

Sarah Harris

Not local to you Sarah but will be watching this post with interest - we have been talking to the guild about joining as trade members and perhaps offering our offices as a meeting space for local framers to meet for some form of local guild events/networking.

Will be interesting to see if this is of interest to framers in general and how far people might travel so that we can think about the area we might be able to support from our location up here in Leeds!

Good luck with your plans and good on you for making things happen rather than hoping someone else might provide them!

Hi Sarah,
I am based in West Wales, but would be interested in participating in any sort of meet-up with other framers, especially if learning/sharing opportunities were involved.
I will travel anywhere on the M4/M5 south area, you have to be prepared to travel when you live in the wild west!
A WhattsApp group wouldn't work for me, the constant pinging of messages would drive me nuts!! I reserve Whatts App conversations for family and customers. I find it a great way to design and get job approvals. (BTW this is a social media group, I think!)
Justin