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. 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 brings those things together.
From my Brighton studio, I select original work that I genuinely respond to, from both established and emerging artists. I design and make frames with the same care I bring to choosing the work itself, and help clients source, place and build collections that feel personal to them and right for their surroundings.
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 through exhibitions, wine and conversation, and that spirit remains an important 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.