How we frame a piece
A slow walk through the studio's framing process — the wood, the glass, the reason for the small brass tag on the back.
Every Bloom piece leaves the studio in a frame we make ourselves. Not because we cannot find a good framer — we know several — but because the frame is part of the work. The proportions of the moulding, the depth of the rabbet, the exact colour the wood is finished in, all of that is decided at the same table as the piece itself.
The wood
The wood is quartersawn white oak from a single mill in the north. Quartersawn because the grain stays straighter over decades; from a single mill because we have known the miller for twelve years and he sets aside boards for us in the spring.
The finish is a hand-rubbed hardwax oil. Three coats, each one buffed by hand between coats, with a full day of drying in between. The last coat goes on in the evening so the frame can rest overnight in a warm room.
The glass
The glass is museum-grade with a slight anti-reflective coating. We tested six different glazings over the course of a year, in six different lights, before we chose this one. In an ordinary living room, at ordinary distance, you should barely notice it is there.
"The best frame is the one you stop seeing after the first minute in the room."
The tag
On the back of every frame is a small brass tag with the piece number, the year, and the studio's mark. It is set flush so the piece hangs true. On the reverse of the tag, in a hand we hope is legible in fifty years, is the initial of whoever finished the frame that week.
The process is slow. A frame takes about four days from the moment the wood is cut to the moment the piece is sealed inside it. That is the whole point.
Keep reading
A new salon in Paris
This month, we added a new salon in Paris. Alongside, we acquired a rare piece from the 2022 series — a special drop follows next month.
Chapter One is nearly here
The first 669 artworks are being prepared for release on September 15. Every piece has passed through the studio's final review.
A quiet week of writing
Notes toward the first edition of the Bloom field guide — a printed companion mailed to verified collectors.
The first exhibition opens in October
For ten days in October, fifty works from Chapter One will be shown in a former tea house on the eastern edge of Kyoto — the collection's first physical exhibition.