A Woman Owned Business / March 2006
Mountaineer Custom Framing
Photo by JJ Davis
Mary Kessinger and Jenny Allinder
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By Pat Lawrence
Jenny Allinder and Mary Kessinger bought what was to become the family business on April Fool’s Day in 2000. Perhaps is was just the bit of whimsy needed to launch their artful enterprise.
Mary, a math teacher, had time on her hands when her two boys left for college. She started working at the St. Albans framing shop on weekends and afternoons after class. Jenny, her sister, had worked eighteen years with a local brokerage firm. At 37, a single mom expecting her first and only child, Jenny defied all advice and turned in her retirement funds so she could raise her son. With a different kind of leisure time than she was accustomed to, when Nick was napping, Jenny began experimenting with embroidery, “fooling around making fanciful creations out of embroidery floss, buttons and silk on backgrounds like taffeta or black cashmere fabric or linen. I fell in love with the process.”
Jenny took her unusual free hand creations to the shop where her sister worked to have them framed. Soon the two were devising hypothetical plans for their own their framing shop. In March of 2000, looking to retire, the existing owner put the business up for sale, with a price that was irresistible. Mary says, “I couldn’t bear to think that it might close.”
The decision to buy was a family affair. Six years later, the tiny shop is a big success.
Mary is still a math teacher. She taught at Stonewall Middle School, and Nitro High School, but now teaches a high school/college class in a collaborative education program at WV State University. Jenny says, “She likes to sit around and work math problems for fun.” Mary admits she is “an analytical person. But I need the balance of creativity and analytical thought. Framing is the perfect marriage of math and art!”
Mountaineer Framing is open six days a week until five except on Thursdays when they stay open till seven. Jenny is there most often and Mary is at the shop after class and on weekends.
Jenny never liked patterns so each of her designs is an original, often abstract, work of art. Mountaineer Framing displays and sells her colorful artwork but they also sell the antique etchings and engravings, artwork, needlework and antique photographs displayed on the red walls of the front room.
They custom frame everything, and almost anything. Besides the usual requests for diplomas and certificates, they have employed their skill and creativity to frame old pieces of music, letters, an obituary notice from the 1800’s, christening gowns and even a wedding bouquet. Jenny says their most surprising request was for framing a pair of peach colored panties from the 1920’s. “The woman was so pleased, she hung them in the foyer instead of the bedroom.”
For two years, the pair worked on framing handkerchiefs that had been lovingly collected over decades by a client’s mother. “We would frame one or two a month and she would give them as keepsakes of her mother. She gave us carte blanche on the design and each frame was created and embellished to complement the particular handkerchief. Some were pristine, some were falling apart. We added old photos, sometimes or old buttons. They were beautiful.”
Since the previous owner belonged to a needlework guild, the shop already had a reputation as a choice for crafters. Jenny says, “We still frame a lot of needlework, cross-stitch and crewelwork.”
The sisters had a natural talent for creative framing, but the business side has been a challenge. Mary says, “We’ve really had to struggle to promote ourselves, and not apologize for prices or for what wasn’t available. We’ve learned a lot, but we have a lot to learn.” Fortunately, their brother, who has an accounting and business background, is also a partner. Jenny says, “We have a list of things for him to do every time he comes in!”
They keep the shop interesting and ever changing with framed artwork by a local artist and unusual pieces found on eBay or in antique shops. “If something catches our eye, we buy it and frame it.” And they sell Jenny’s charming, original embroidery.
The two complement each other like contrasting colors, relying on each other in a seamless framework for success.
For more information, visit Mountaineer Custom Framing, 222 Third Avenue, St. Albans , call 304-722-2711 or email jallinder@littleshopofframes.com.
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Femme Fair 2006
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