WASHINGTON– She has met Jane Fonda, worked on commission from the White House and has been entrusted with the care and safety of priceless works of art by famous artists such as Marc Chagall and Rembrandt. Who is she? Not a celebrity, but instead the friendly owner of Washington Framers’ Workroom, a mainstay of the Tenleytown community for more than 30 years.
Gana Browning has been working at the shop since its opening in July 1981. Browning said three friends from Philadelphia, who owned and operated framing stores there, approached another one of her close friends, who recently left a job in the Carter administration, about starting a framing store in the Washington area. The interior design and construction was all done by Thomas Morris, who continues to work, and as the original owners and friends retired or passed away, Browning became the sole proprietor.
Browning said that since the Tenleytown-AU Metro station opened in 1984, development in the neighborhood has been slow but steady. Although interest in building high-rises and large construction projects exists, the neighborhood association has made a strong effort to slow development.
But through all this change, Browning says that “the community has supported us.” Although four other framing stores have since opened in Tenleytown, the competition is friendly. “We support each other,” said Browning.
One special service that Washington Framer’s Workroom provides is a do-it-yourself framing service. “Customers feel like they can accomplish something,” said Browning. With a wide variety of materials for the customers to use, from the Wizard computerized mat cutter that cuts a multitude of shapes to the 250 moldings of wood and metal, the possibilities are endless.
With a staff of eight, we have a “much bigger staff than most frame shops,” Browning said. Each employee has the ability to do every responsibility, from operating the cash register to working with the Wizard and the touch-up counter.
The frame shop itself evokes a familiar feeling of home, with the walls covered in personal art, and wicker chairs in the front with houseplants as accents. Personal wall art is displayed up and down the walls of the frame shop. “Almost every single one of [our employees] are artists,” says Browning.
There are six certified Master Picture Framers within the business, which makes them the only frame shop on the East Coast with this specialized training, she said. She herself is a former master, but had to cut back because of arthritis.
Throughout the years, Browning said that she has framed unusual items. A customer came in with “a bun from the head of somebody’s mother and we made a shadowbox,” a display box for items too large to put in a traditional picture frame, Browning recalled. “Nobody wanted to touch it.” Other oddities include Turkish daggers and a gun in a shadowbox on display in the shop.
And the famous customers? Browning smiled and began vividly describing what Jane Fonda looked like the day she walked into their small store: 4-inch heels, skinny jeans, perfect hair. “Her daughter, Vanessa Vadim, went to American University,” said Browning.
The shop frequently has customers of political significance, as well as visitors in newscasting professions, including James G. Watt and Arch Campbell.
Despite these famous customers, most of Browning’s business comes from the community. “We’ve had two or three generations of repeat customers,” Browning said. With the store’s 34th anniversary coming up next month, Washington Framers’ Workroom is poised to be a staple of the neighborhood for years to come.