“Every piece of art should be treated equally,” says Colette Walton, owner of Colette’s Custom Framing in the old industrial area.
July will mark 50 years in the framing business for Colette.
When Colette was a child, her mother, Gail Dunlevy, ran an interior design business in the San Buenaventura Shopping Center in Ventura, California. Her father, Paul, opened up a framing shop behind the store. While saving up for her first car as a teenager, Colette would walk to the shop after school and help her father. He matched her pay with savings toward buying the car.
It was there that Colette fell in love with framing and the framing business.
“I woke up one day and said, ‘Oh, I’ve become my parents,’” Colette laughs, looking back at her industry roots.
Since moving to Kona in 1988, she has worked on resort renovations, one-off framing projects for grandparents — she’s delighted by a keiki’s painting of a white puppy that a doting grandmother recently asked her to frame — and everything in between.
No matter the piece, whether it’s worth a million dollars or purely sentimental, Colette provides extreme care and attention to detail. “It’s all valuable to that person,” she says.
And her customer base recognizes this. Recently, Colette led the renovation and reframing of artwork at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Royal Kona Resort, and she has worked in more than a dozen homes in Kohanaiki, providing each piece in each room on each wall its own special treatment.
Sometimes, designers bring specific opinions of what they want to achieve in a particular room or space. Other times, customers provide a relatively blank slate for their art. Either way, Colette is happy to accommodate and deliver the ideal frame. While the options for framing patterns, woods, and spacing are nearly limitless, the best ideas come naturally to Colette at this point. “You want to accent the piece, not overwhelm it,” she says.
Regarding framing woods, koa remains popular, but prices have dramatically increased in recent years. So, customers now show a lot of interest in monkeypod wood. Mango wood is also popular.
“It’s a really beautiful wood,” Colette says of the mango in her shop, waiting to be wrapped around the perfect piece of art.
Colette’s customers appreciate having someone local to apply the craft. She works with artists on O’ahu and regularly ships art to the mainland, but the interactions with her local base make the business incredibly rewarding.
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” exclaims a delighted customer on a recent Saturday morning as she picks up a tapa that Colette spent hours restoring. More than 20 tiny patches make the piece look new.
While Colette has been in the business for nearly 50 years, she’s run her shop for about half that time. After moving to Kona in 1988, it was in 2000 that her husband, Dan, suggested that they start the company.
Times haven’t always been easy — the great recession and the pandemic were both challenging — but the business is doing incredibly well. Colette knows Dan’s support has been foundational to her entrepreneurial success.
“He said, ‘You have to do this,’” Colette says. And with that, they turned their savings into Colette’s Custom Framing.
Now, she works with galleries, resorts, and individuals up and down the Kona coast to ensure that any picture has the frame to suit it.
Dealing with a broken wrist several months ago, Colette realized how much she depended on her employees. And they stepped up to keep everything running smoothly. Noelani is a brilliant finisher, and August and Max are pros at the craft.
While 50 years may seem like a lifetime in most industries, Colette loves her 2,700 square foot space — also a gallery — her customers and her employees.
“People ask me if I’m going to retire,” Colette says. “I’ve got a good 10 years left. I love what I do.”
When asked whether she has any advice for would-be customers wondering how to frame their unique piece, Colette’s answer is refreshingly simple: Just bring the piece into her shop and have a chat.
“After 50 years, it’s just natural,” she says.
ColettesCustomFraming.com.