Why does framing cost so much?

Or I should say, why can framing cost so much?

As you probably already know, ready-made frames can be bought for quite inexpensive amounts, you can even buy some size frames at the supermarket! And there are a range of price levels and quality levels within this category. But it really is custom-made framing that can be much more expensive, why?

Custom framing is normally hand-made and a good framer will use quality materials and techniques to ensure the frame and the framing process is equivalent to the quality materials used by the artist, designer or photographer of the image. Therefore these materials and their time needs financial acknowledgement. In addition, custom framing can also be more expensive if a company does the framing for you. For example, at Interactive Arts, we do charge more for our framing because:

1. we need to cover the actual cost of framing plus
2. we only provide custom-made framing
3. the framers we use work with high quality materials and have developed techniques to ensure long term protection of your investment (your image)
4. because it takes time for our staff to arrange this and make it happen we need to allow for this time and manpower

We acknowledge you will save money if you by the print and have it framed yourself, however if you don’t know a framer, don’t have the time to do this or just love how we have framed it then choose the framed, ready to hang when you purchase. www.interactivearts.com.au