Artful Preservation with Valerie Becker of Rochester Framing and Fine Art Printing
Collider is passionate about sharing the stories of entrepreneurs and small business owners in Rochester! We recently chatted with Valerie Becker who, along with her husband, owns and operates three framing and fine art printing businesses throughout southeast Minnesota.
Photo by Corrie Strommen.
Valerie Becker has been a lifelong entrepreneur, though she didn’t pursue framing and fine art printing until later in life. She began her career by starting a word processing company, utilizing the skills she had learned while working in an office. She later began doing bookkeeping for small businesses. Both of these pursuits allowed her to remain a stay at home mom after her children were born.
“I worked as a liaison between the CPAs and the small businesses, helping them stay on track with their bookkeeping.” Valerie explained.
During those years, Valerie and her husband, John, lived in the Twin Cities before eventually relocating to Red Wing, Minnesota.
In 2002, Valerie was ready for a change, “I loved the work I had done in the past, but got tired of sitting behind a desk all the time. I asked myself what it was I wanted to do next and decided to take a week long crash course in custom framing. I knew after that class which direction I wanted to go in and started taking more classes.”
Valerie went on to acquire her framing certification through the Professional Picture Framers Association and opened her first of what would grow to three locations of the framing and fine art printing business. Valerie began the business in Red Wing, where she and John continue to reside, opened a secondary location in downtown Rochester in 2014, and most recently has expanded to open a shop in Northfield, Minnesota in 2018.
Photo by Corrie Strommen.
“Perhaps fifteen years before I got into framing, I was at a garage sale and bought this box of frames. At the time I didn’t do anything with them, but there was something about that box of frames that intrigued me. Eventually I started doing custom framing for my own projects at home, and had a lot of fun with it. At one point I brought some art to one particular custom framer who would allow me to actually come in and put it together myself. I've always been kind of crafty, but I started realizing that this was a step above that, and I realized I really liked working with wood, with mat, and with color.”
Valerie explained that the greatest challenges in opening the business initially was cashflow while getting started, as well as finding their customer base.
“As a small business owner, you tend to not pay yourself. You have to pay your employees first, then there’s rent, insurance, and the cost of materials to cover as well. A lot of people ask why custom framing is so expensive, but they don’t understand the costs that go into running the business itself, along with creating a high quality product. But we stuck to the idea that we wanted to create something that was sustainable for us and for our employees and persisted through a few lean years before things started to take off for us.”
They have loved having a location in Rochester and Valerie explained that, “It's been a joy to be here and get customers from all over the world. I really appreciate the international feel of it. I love working with all of the professionals that are in Rochester. We also feel that we’ve really been embraced by the community.”
Photo by Corrie Strommen.
Throughout the years, Valerie has continued taking classes to expand her knowledge of framing and is now the only master framer in the state of Minnesota. Alongside her framing expertise, John offers a wide knowledge of photography printing as well as creating high quality print copies of artwork.
At any of their three locations you can have artwork, photographs, and objects professionally framed with unique designs, conservation glass, and acid free mat material. You can also have artworks and photographs recreated in print form.
Photo by Corrie Strommen.
“We always try to really think of what's best for the art and that holds true for the design.” Valerie explained.
As a word of guidance to those aspiring to business ownership, Valerie advises paying close attention to your bookkeeping, whether you are doing it yourself or hiring someone to do it for you, and to always make customer service a high priority.
Outside of work, Valerie enjoys time spent with John, their children, and seven grandchildren. She is also a lover of nature, time spent outdoors, sewing, and needlework.
Valerie finds much satisfaction in her work and said, “I just love getting to know my customers and giving them something that they're going to love for a long time.”
Thank you for taking the time to read Valerie’s story! If you find value in this content, please consider donating to help Collider continue amplifying the voices of Rochester entrepreneurs. You can also find out more about Rochester Framing and Fine Art Printing by clicking the link below!
Article by Corrie Strommen, Director of Community at Collider.
