Houston · Hand-finished hardwoods
Artisan Hardwood Frames, Hand-Finished
Crafted directly in our Taft Street studio, we shape our frames from raw maple, oak, cherry, walnut, bird's-eye maple, and padouk lumber. Each piece is constructed with internal spline corners and meticulously detailed with custom stains, paints, bleaches, washes, and oils formulated specifically to elevate your art.
The artisan method
Sourced from raw lumber — custom milled in-studio.
Our workflow begins at the foundation. We mill, profile, and join raw hardwood boards on-site, ensuring the finish, scale, and profile are perfectly tailored to your individual artwork. Corners are mechanically locked with splines for lasting structural integrity, and the complete frame is finished and sanded as a seamless, unified object — no finish breaks at the joints and no visible miter lines.
Every finish is executed entirely by hand, incorporating painted lacquers, careful ebonizing, light bleaches, translucent color washes, and hand-rubbed organic oils. We also construct specialized frame-in-a-frame layouts that place a secondary profile or delicate fillet inside the main outer moulding to provide striking architectural depth.
Available species & custom finishes
The hardwood library — twelve options.
Natural Maple
A pale, uniform grain that responds exceptionally well to organic oil and wax treatments.
Bird's-Eye Maple
An uncommon, highly figured wood showcasing a distinctive iridescent eye grain pattern.
Bleached Maple
Lightened to a striking near-white tone while maintaining a sharp, visible wood structure.
White Maple
A clean, modern, and solid white finish layered over a tightly closed grain.
White-Washed Maple
A subtle, semi-opaque finish that allows the organic qualities of the timber to show through.
Painted Maple
A personalized, hand-applied color match designed to harmonize with both the space and the artwork.
Natural Cherry
A smooth, delicately grained timber that develops a deeper, richer color over time.
Brown Oak
A structural, open-grained wood treated with a comfortable, medium-brown finish.
Black Oak
An ebonized, rich dark tone that preserves the highly tactile and prominent texture of the oak.
White-Washed Oak
A limed finish that delivers a gentle, bright, beach-inspired aesthetic to the frame profile.
Natural Walnut
Our most popular option, offering a dark chocolate color palette and straight grain lines.
Black Walnut
An ebonized dark finish that yields a softer, more dimensional look than standard black paint.
Structural integrity
Spline corners & frame-in-a-frame architecture.
A close inspection of our corner joints reveals the spline — a slender key composed of similar or contrasting hardwood, inserted into a slot milled across the assembled corner, perpendicular to the miter line. By mechanically securing the miter and substantially expanding the surface area for gluing, this feature ensures our corners remain completely true across decades of seasonal expansion and contraction — a subtle hallmark of expert bench craftsmanship.
When an artwork requires enhanced physical depth, we construct frame-in-a-frame designs, positioning a fully finished interior profile to float gracefully inside an outer moulding, as demonstrated by the double walnut frame in our gallery.
Selected work
Hardwood, in service of the art.
Questions
Hardwood framing, answered.
What defines a spline corner?
A spline consists of a slender hardwood key inserted into a slot cut across the mitered corner at a perpendicular angle. This technique significantly expands the surface area for adhesive and mechanically secures the joint, ensuring the corner remains square and stable for decades. On several of our frame profiles, the spline is visible on the outside edge — serving as an understated hallmark of careful bench craftsmanship.
How do I select the right wood species for my art?
We recommend beginning with the artwork's historical period and color palette. Warm, tonal pieces are often flattered by walnut; modern works and works on paper are well-suited to maple; photography and prints benefit from the texture of oak; and traditional paintings pair beautifully with the deep tones of cherry wood. To ensure a perfect match rather than a guess, our design team will evaluate real corner samples directly against your artwork during the consultation.
Do hardwood frames offer museum-grade preservation?
Absolutely. Every custom frame package is engineered strictly to archival standards so that the artwork never comes into direct contact with raw wood. By using Japanese paper hinging, acid-free cotton rag mats, sealed rabbet channels, and 99% UV-filtering glazing, the external hardwood structure protects your valuable artwork over the long term.
Beyond the standard profiles
Other designs from the woodshop.
Not every artwork wants a catalogue profile. Our woodshop regularly develops one-off designs — notched faces, peaked windows, layered frame-in-frame constructions, and custom-milled shapes — each drawn for a specific work and finished by hand.
Begin
Once a work is yours, make us the first call.
Consultations at our Taft Street showroom, or at your home or office.
Schedule a Consultation