I’ve always been interested in the way art changes a space.
My route into it was through picture framing. For more than twenty years, I’ve worked closely with artworks, artists and collectors, and framing taught me to notice the details that make a difference, proportion, material, colour, scale and, perhaps most importantly, how a piece feels once it is living in a room.
Over time, I found myself doing more than framing. I was helping people choose work, introducing them to artists, thinking about how pieces should sit together and where they should live. That gradually became a bigger part of what I do.
Thomas Rainsford is really the bringing together of all of those things.
I select original work that I genuinely respond to, from both established and emerging artists. I frame with the same care I bring to choosing the work itself, and I help clients source, place and build collections in a way that feels considered rather than overworked.
Framed & Fermented came from a slightly different instinct, wanting to make looking at art feel more relaxed, more social and less formal. It became a way of bringing people together around exhibitions, wine and conversation, and that spirit is still very much part of what I do.
At the heart of it, I’m interested in work that has staying power. Art you want to keep looking at. Framing that supports rather than overwhelms it. Spaces that feel better because something has been chosen carefully.
That is what Thomas Rainsford is about.
Art that deepens with time.