Not every great framing idea starts with us. Sometimes the best ones come from the person sitting across the counter.
A client came in with two Pan Am Clipper Jet flight route maps from the late 1970s, the kind of maps Pan Am handed passengers on transatlantic flights, printed in vivid yellow and blue, with spaces to fill in the flight number, date, altitude and speed. Hers still had those details filled in. Two maps, yellow, blue and history, and she wanted them both framed.
Laying out the options together
This was her first time having something custom framed and she was not entirely sure what she wanted. That is completely normal and it is exactly the kind of conversation we enjoy having. We started by pulling frames and mat samples and laying out different design scenarios on the table, different frame profiles, different mat combinations, working through what each one did to the maps.
The maps are bold and graphic, primarily yellow for the landmasses and blue for the ocean. It did not take long to see that the right design had to work with those colors rather than around them.
The idea that changed everything
As we were going through the options, our client looked at the two maps side by side and mentioned that she was planning to hang them on opposite walls of the same room. That one detail opened everything up.
If the two pieces were going to face each other across a space, why not design them to speak to each other? Same frame profile for both, but switch the colors. One in yellow, one in blue, each pulling a different dominant color from the map itself. And do the same with the double mats, showing a blue and a yellow reveal on the white core, connecting back to the palette of the maps.
It was her idea. We ran with it together and it was exactly right.
The finished pieces
The yellow-framed map pops differently from the blue-framed one. Same maps, same mat structure, same frame profile, but the color switch changes the whole mood of each piece. Together across a room they will create a conversation between the two walls that rewards anyone who notices it.
The maps themselves are a beautiful artifact of the golden age of transatlantic jet travel. Pan Am pioneered the transatlantic commercial route and these maps were handed to passengers to follow along as they flew. The filled-in flight details on our client’s maps make them personal documents as much as they are historical ones.
Framing does not have to feel intimidating
Our client came in as a first-time custom framing customer and left having designed something genuinely original. She had no idea what she wanted when she walked in. She ended up with the best idea in the room.
That is how this process works. You do not need to know the answer before you come in. You just need to bring the piece. We lay out the options, we talk through what works and why, and more often than not the right design reveals itself in that conversation. Sometimes it comes from us. Sometimes, like this time, it comes from you.
She loved it. Really, truly loved it. And that is exactly why we do this.
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Underglass Custom Picture Framing · Castro District · San Francisco Custom design · Conservation framing · Open 7 days