Back in 1977, Martin Harrold was an employee at Lucas in Birmingham when he couldn’t find someone to frame a picture. In the end, he researched the skills and equipment required to do the job and did it himself, thus starting a side line that grew into Lion Picture Framing Supplies (or Lion Frames for short) that now employs 60 people.
Speaking about Lion Frames at The Print Show in September at the NEC, his daughter Nicola Harrold, who is the firm’s managing director, said the company is three months older than her. She says: “It was in 1977 that Dad started his own framing business and gradually got into the frame supply side of it. He started to produce a catalogue that was always the basis of the business. Having quite a detailed catalogue with a lot of products and much detail about the products, built Lion Frames.

“Then, when I joined the business, I started our website and our online ordering and particularly in our core market where we are the market leader. My parents are still relatively involved but my brother is a structural engineer.”

Framing has similar skills to traditional sign-making while it was evident at The Print Show that anyone with a wide-format printer could start to offer fine art printing for artists which in turn need to be framed”

So, the question is where do sign-makers and printers come in? The answer, it seems, is the attraction of diversification. In short, offering a second business in parallel with the first one. Framing has similar skills to traditional sign-making while it was evident at The Print Show that anyone with a wide-format printer could start to offer fine art printing for artists which in turn need to be framed.

The company is now a supplier of wood, aluminium and Minerva polymer mouldings, offering a selection of styles, finishes and profiles, from classic to contemporary, traditional to modern. Customers says Harrold include printers and print service providers of all kinds, shops, photo gift retailers and online photo gift businesses although the range is growing with the firm exporting to more than 60 countries around the globe. She said The Print Show had been better than expected for generating new customers as there was a steady interest from a variety of businesses seeking new revenue streams.

Have you diversified into a parallel business? Email your thoughts to harry@linkpublishing.co.uk or call me on Tel: 0117 9805 040 – or follow me on Twitter and join in the debate.

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