Yorkshire framer who went from working in illustrious private school to a terraced house

As one of the only picture framers certified by the Fine Art Trade Guild in Sheffield, Doldon runs his company Capstone Framing from his family home in Meersbrook.

He carries out a vast array of different projects for local artists and people who have treasured items they would like framing, with one recent project involving framing war medals and pictures of a man who survived being shot down twice during WW2 which his family wanted to display properly.

He also custom-paints frames and hand-finished mounts around client specifications and says he can deal with everything from Fine Art to paintings, prints, photos, textile art and even sports shirts that people want to display.

Doldon has a workshop on the first floor of his terraced home filled with his specialist equipment.

"My family have been really supportive,” he says. "Initially I started with a workshop on the other side of town but quickly realised it wasn’t the ideal location. It was a nice workshop but didn’t have any passing trade.

"It was also on the other side of the city from my target audience. When they put the rent up, I moved into the house.

"We live in a terraced house and space is at a premium but my wife Nikki has been extremely good about it.

"We have a two-and-a-half-year-old so it has made things a lot easier in terms of being involved with family life.

"But sometimes it is not always the ideal situation when you are inviting people into your home workshop. I try to keep it as a professional workshop.”

Originally from Grimsby, Doldon’s background is in Fine Art having studied at Falmouth College of Art and then being employed as an artist in residence in private schools Christ's Hospital in Horsham and then Marlborough College.

In addition to helping students with their artistic development, the roles also entailed putting on his own exhibitions.

He says he decided to return North and ended up working in the field of picture framing.

"I was at Christ’s Hospital for two years and Marlborough College for one year. I really enjoyed it but I got to a point where I wanted to leave the boarding school bubble. I was pretty socially isolated and I wanted to live in a city and be with friends.

"A lot of my friends who I grew up with in Grimsby had come to Sheffield for degrees and stayed here afterwards. I liked Sheffield and made the move up here.”

After applying for gallery and museum jobs, Doldon says he realised he needed greater technical experience and started working for a high street picture framing company, a role he stayed in for around six years.

He decided to set up his own business around 18 months ago, with a focus on quality.

"My business is a more bespoke service if people require it with hand-painting and hand-finishing frames .

"I offer quite a few things that you wouldn’t be able to get at a high-street framers.

"If you want something framing with the right methods and know your item is not going to come to any harm, I’d like to think that I am the person to come to.”

Earlier this year he reached a significant milestone by passing his Guild Certified Framers exam.

Doldon is now qualified to offer different levels of framing up to museum standard, where frames have a minimum target life of 35 years. There are four levels of framing recog nised by The Fine Art Tr ade Guild; Museum standard, Conservation standard; Commended standard and Budget – all of which Doldon is qualified to provide.

He says of his typical clients: "At the moment I would say 50 per cent of my customer base are artists and then 50 per cent are people who come across me on Google.”

He says he takes great pride and satisfaction from his work.

"I have left the artistic practice behind and I have other creative outlets like playing drums in a band.

"I enjoy the framing, there is huge creativity within it.

"When I do a good job and the client is happy to let me have a bit of free rein with my bespoke techniques I really enjoy that.

"It is really nice hearing people’s stories about what they have brought in because generally if they want to spend a bit of money on something like this it will either have financial value or sentimental value and mean a lot to that person.

"Just to know that I’m doing a job that helps them make the most of it and know that it is going to last for 25 to 30 years because it has been framed correctly is quite a fun thing to do.

"It gives you an insight into people’s lives and you get asked to do all sorts of stuff.

"Someone brought in their grandfather’s war medals. He had been in the RAF and was shot down twice in World War II but survived both times. They also had pictures of him next to his plane. It was a privilege to do it.”

Doldon says his business is still in its fledging stage and he ultimately hopes to work with more artists, galleries, universities and museums on framing projects.

"I’m just taking it step by step because I’m having to be a lot more patient than I imagined I would have to be,” he says.

Doldon adds the reaction of clients can be the best part of the job.

"When they are really pleased with it and you get that reaction, it is really satisfying to know what it means to them.

"That something as simple as framing can bring that joy to them is wonderful.”Viisit https://www.capstoneframing.com/ for information.