Framer's Workshop Offers Do It Yourself Framer Work

For Justin Lampka, running the Framer’s Workshop is more than just a job. It’s a way for him to preserve a part of Brookline. Growing up in Brookline, Lampka remembered the crystal shop was where the workshop is now.

“There are places like the Coolidge Corner Theater and the Booksmith that are a fixture in town,” Lampka said. “That was a big reason why I bought the store last year.”

The Framer’s Workshop originally opened up in Washington Square in 1990. They moved to their current location at 64 Harvard Street. Lampka purchased the store off of the original owners retired.

The workshop offers customers the opportunity to create their own framing. “People like the experience,” Lampka said. “It’s cheaper, quicker and more satisfying to make a frame yourself. When you frame something, it’s clearly important, valuable and that person is going to have it for a while. Making the frame adds to the meaning.”

The staff works side by side with customers, creating the frames for some of the most important paintings, drawings, certificates, to umbilical chords and pieces of the old tank at the Aquarium, which they gave to donors. “Making the frame can take as quickly as an hour,” Lampka said. “It can also take an hour just to pick out the material. It’s a great experience for people who enjoy working with their hands and have an open mind for materials.”