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Paint effects specialist Lucinda Harrison comes down from the scaffolding to create a whole new frame of mind.

After nine years treating entire walls or floors as her canvas, Lucinda Harrison was ready for a change of scale. So she hung up her paint brushes and with her sister, Nicki Vano, relaunched the Auckland frame workshop and gallery, El Framo.

The sibling's Ponsonby gallery and framing business is a return to roots for Lucinda, who learnt the art of framing in London in the early eighties. From there she went on to work in a gallery in Sydney, followed by a stint with a custom framing shop where she trained in the delicate craft of gilding.

El Framo is "a place where we can exhibit work we like" and offer ideas to customers, says Lucinda. Exh-bitions are wide ranging in content - everything from a large Gauguin-esque drawing, to tiny jewel-like cast silver body parts, to a lavish mirror (entitled 'Self-portrait'), its frame studded with rhinestones.

"We always keep in mind that the work has to go on somebody's wall in their home. So we're framing to bring the best out of the work, but also to suit the environment it will hang in," says Lucinda. "We can change the colour and finish on any profile, so you're not limited to the stock range of frames."

And what of the current trends in framing? "Simple contemporary box framing, where there is space between the art and the glass, and silver leaf finishes," say the experts.

El Framo is at 55a MacKelvie Street, Ponsonby, Auckland. Phone 09-378 6774.

Karen Pearson

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