WorkshopFeature Interview
Steven McKee GCF GCFAdv in conversation with Peter Hancocks
Steven McKee is the owner of the Dromore Picture Framing Business, The Down School of Picture Framing and is an Advanced Guild Commended Framer. Within his operation he runs the Valiani Demonstration Centre for Northern Ireland and Ireland which is not surprising seeing as he is a Valiani accredited demonstrator and trainer. He also installs and maintains Valiani CMC’s and holds demonstrations for prospective customers on behalf of London based D&J Simons. In addition, he works very closely with the Fine Art Trade Guild [FATG], especially with GCF examinations and as a GCF examiner per se. He is a member of the Guild’s Framers Committee and in conjunction with the committee works hard to advise framers on standards, techniques and examinations as well as a whole raft of behind the scenes work in an eff ort to help the framing industry keep up and move forward in the use of modern materials and techniques. Besides his own recognized and
accredited training school he states that it is his intention to continue to organize more outside courses held by other expert framers such as ‘Frame Finishing’ by Pete Bingham GCF and ‘Mount Decoration’ by Dave Woolass GCF. It is also his intention through 2011 to organize a course on ‘Gilding’, which he states he is continually being asked for. Finally, he is also a very approachable
fellow and despite his busy schedule he has found time to talk to Picture Business in what can only be described as a major and informative interview. Peter Hancocks, PB Editor.
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the relationship between the Down School of Framing and that of the Dromore Picture Framing Business Steven advised thus:- “ They are basically under the same roof, but the relationship is very simple: My wife Sharon-Lee is in charge of all the day to day bespoke aspects of the business, she deals more and more with the customers whilst I spend 75% of my time teaching. When I am not teaching, [either in my own dedicated training only workshop or training ‘on site’], servicing, installing or demonstrating machinery, I can be found working on the orders that have come in, working from worksheets produced from the pricing software. That’s the way the business has evolved over the past few years and works very well. I can also be found at D&J Simons in London either taking a 1 or 2-Day Framing Course, or 1 day invigilating GCF Examinations and then at the FATG’s offi ce attending a Framers Committee meeting. If teaching ‘onsite’ I am usually away for fi ve days, and my time in London is normally 3 to 4 days at a time, four times a year. As we are the only dedicated, Accredited Picture
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Framing Training School in Ireland it seemed obvious to have the two names to simply diff erentiate between the bespoke side and the training side.” When it comes to who owns what, Steven says
his wife Sharon-Lee ‘considers’ that she owns the lot and he is happy to run with that! Before he started the framing business Steven
had some interesting jobs including that of being a Police Offi cer in Northern Ireland, a sales representative for two diff erent companies as well as being an accomplished football referee before a major back injury saw him spending the next three years in bed and undergoing two spinal operations.
Shop front
hen asked to determine
Steve McKee at the Valiani Demonstration Centre
From there he took up picture framing as a hobby and the rest as they say is history. Whilst working with her engineering father,
Sharon-Lee became more and more interested in the creative side of framing and it was her idea to move the hobby, which was becoming a business, on. The couple moved onto the High Street. Steven said: “At that time I was still recovering from
the fi rst of two operations, so I was only a ‘helper’, but I was the one that liked the idea of the qualifi cations on off er from the FATG, so I studied, took and passed the various qualifi cations and gained due recognition.” He continued: “ As I said, Dromore Picture Framing
was founded from a hobby and like a lot of framers before us started at home, got too busy for a home based business [without adding extensions or building purpose built workshops] and went onto the High Street. At fi rst we had one gallery fl oor, one workshop fl oor and the third fl oor was a store and a place for a
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