What began as an art supply store in 1902 has evolved across generations into a custom framing business where changing with the times has become part of preserving the past.
A business can accumulate a lot of history in nearly 125 years.
Styles change. Neighborhoods change. Customers change. Technology changes. Entire industries can look different from one generation to the next.
Friedman’s Framing has lived through all of it.
The Savannah business traces its beginnings to 1902, when it opened as Friedman’s Art Store and primarily sold art supplies. Over the next 110 years, its focus gradually shifted toward art and framing while supplies remained part of the business.
Then came another significant change.
About a decade ago, Friedman’s relocated from downtown Savannah to Midtown, downsized its operation and moved almost entirely into custom framing.
It would be easy to look at a business approaching its 125th anniversary and focus primarily on everything it has preserved.
The Friedman’s story is just as much about what it has been willing to change.
Growing Up Around the Business
For current owner Julian, Friedman’s isn’t simply a company he eventually purchased or joined.
He grew up in the family business.
That gives the company’s history a personal dimension. The decades behind Friedman’s are not simply dates on a timeline. They represent generations of customers, projects and changes that eventually led to the business Julian oversees today.
Vice President Adam brought a different background to the operation, with experience in customer service and technology.
Those skills became increasingly important as Friedman’s continued evolving. Custom framing remains a hands-on craft, but the way customers discover businesses, communicate with them and understand their options has changed considerably.
Friedman’s has worked to change with it.
That combination of history and adaptation has helped shape what the business is today: rooted in a long Savannah legacy without trying to operate as though it were still 1902.
“If You Want It on Your Wall…”
Ask the Friedman’s team for the five-second explanation of what they do, and their answer is considerably more memorable than a list of framing services.
“If you want it on your wall, we’ll find a way to get it there.”
That philosophy has taken the company well beyond simply putting photographs into frames.
Friedman’s provides custom picture framing for residential and commercial clients and works with designers on a wide range of projects. The company says its work can be found in other countries, and its team has traveled throughout the eastern United States providing installation services.
But Savannah remains home.
From its Midtown location on Eisenhower Drive, the business serves local residents alongside designers, businesses and other clients looking for ways to display pieces that matter to them.
And those pieces can be deeply personal.
Art may be selected because someone loves the way it looks. Other pieces carry memories, family history or meaning that cannot be replaced.
That personal connection has influenced the way Friedman’s approaches the framing process.
The company operates with a zero-pressure, non-commission model. Instead of steering customers toward a particular purchase because of a sales incentive, the team says the goal is to understand what the customer wants and find the appropriate solution for that particular piece.
For a business that has spent generations putting things on walls, the relationship with what goes inside the frame remains important.
Surviving Changing Tastes
Longevity does not mean Friedman’s has been insulated from challenges.
Quite the opposite.
Changing design trends have historically presented a challenge for a business selling something that becomes part of a home or business environment. Economic downturns created another problem, particularly during periods when consumers became reluctant to spend money on items they considered non-essential.
Then COVID changed the equation again.
According to Friedman’s, the years following the pandemic brought a noticeable shift in the way people approached their homes and the things surrounding them.
Customers became more willing to invest in items that enriched their everyday lives, while design preferences changed and demand for quality increased.
Friedman’s responded by expanding its offerings and putting additional effort into education, social media and the overall customer experience.
It is another chapter in a pattern that stretches back generations.
The business changed because its customers changed.
The Moment Behind the Finished Piece
For all the history and evolution behind Friedman’s, one of the team’s favorite moments happens repeatedly.
It is the reveal.
A finished piece is wrapped before the customer sees it. Then the team unwraps it.
“Honestly, we have rewarding moments almost every time we unwrap a finished piece to show a client,” the Friedman’s team shared. “It’s easily our favorite part of the job.”
Those moments help explain something that statistics about business longevity cannot.
Custom framing is ultimately about what happens after the work leaves the shop.
A photograph may become part of a family’s home. Artwork may hang in a business for decades. A meaningful piece may eventually pass from one generation to another.
Friedman’s may build the frame.
The customer supplies the reason it matters.
Recognition Along the Way
The business has also received recognition in recent years, including Savannah Magazine’s Best of HOMES and the Savannah Chamber’s Small Business of the Year.
The team is careful not to make the awards the center of its story.
“While awards aren’t what drive us, they’re a great reminder that we’re doing right by our community.”
That community connection extends outside the shop.
Friedman’s is involved with organizations including Buy Local Savannah, the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce and the Pooler Chamber of Commerce, along with local groups representing Realtors, architects and designers.
The company also sponsors and participates in art shows and other community events.
For Friedman’s, supporting local artists, businesses and events is connected to something larger: helping sustain the arts culture that has long been part of Savannah’s identity.
Local Versus the Coupon
There is also one misconception Friedman’s would like to challenge.
Custom framing customers often assume national big-box stores will automatically be less expensive, particularly because of heavily promoted coupons and discounts.
Friedman’s argues that comparison can be misleading.
The company says its everyday prices can be comparable to the discounted prices customers encounter at larger retailers, while its business is specifically built around framing rather than offering it as one department among many.
That specialization is part of the experience Friedman’s wants customers to notice.
The team encourages people considering a framing project to compare their options rather than assuming that buying locally automatically means paying considerably more.
The Next Chapter of a Very Long Story
Friedman’s isn’t trying to become something unrecognizable in pursuit of growth.
Its immediate ambition is straightforward: become Savannah’s go-to name for custom picture framing.
That means continuing to explore new products, techniques and technologies while remaining open to controlled growth.
There is an important qualifier attached to that growth.
The company does not want expansion to come at the expense of the customer service and craftsmanship that helped carry the business this far.
Perhaps that is fitting for a company whose work revolves around preservation.
Friedman’s spends its days helping people protect, display and live with pieces they want to keep.
Yet its own history shows that preservation does not have to mean standing still.
From an art supply store in 1902 to a Midtown custom framing business approaching its 125th anniversary, Friedman’s has kept changing the frame around the business while holding onto the parts it believes should remain.
And after nearly 125 years, the next piece is still waiting to be unwrapped.
Go to https://friedmansframing.com/
The editorial team behind The Coastal Buzz, spotlighting the People, Places & Possibilities shaping Metro Savannah, the Coastal Empire & Lowcountry. Founded by Chris & Sandy Benton.