Why We LOVE Angled Frames

We as a team love a good angled frame. From photography to art prints, an angled frame can take what might look quite clean and simple in a standard box frame, and elevate it even further, whilst still maintaining a neutral and modern look. 

We’ve been using them for years now, with our suppliers sourcing more and more options all the time. The collection we have is now pretty extensive, covering all the neutrals and some wood finishes as well. 

We have found that many of you love them too, but a few are a bit unsure of them, often opting for the box frame because they aren’t 100% confident they’ll like the angled option once it is on the wall. So today, we thought we would chat about why we love them so much, and what they can do for your artwork so that you can start enjoying them on some of your future framing projects!

The necessary archival conversation:

Before we jump in too far, let’s go over what kinds of framing you can use there for. Because angled frames don’t have much depth in the rebate of the frame (image below) they can’t be used when floating a piece of art. They do not allow us enough room to separate the glass from the artwork with a spacer in line with the archival framing guidelines, which you can read more about HERE.

What this means is angled frames can only really be used for Overmounts and framing to the edge. If you want to know the difference between the mounting techniques, you can read about them HERE. Whilst this sounds limiting, it definitely isn’t. An Overmount is great for most things.

So read on to see why angled frames are so great! We have many examples to back ourselves up and show you what we mean.

There are so many options!

We have the most variety when it comes to profile choice with the black and white options, as they are the most commonly used frame colours day to day. From small softer options, to the large very angular ones, there is enough variety to have the perfect option for any project. 

From there, some of those profiles are replicated in wood finishes, giving you some options outside of the standard black and white colour profiles. 

And even more recently, raw timber! If you have done work with us before you may know that we have a paint studio and can create customised hand finished frames on site. We have recently been given a few raw timber angled profiles that we can finish in many different ways -  gilded, painted, textured, stained, whatever takes your fancy. Or even just leave them raw! They vary from stick to stick, but that is part of the beauty of them, and for the right print it could look AMAZING, like this one below:

Angled frames are GREAT at drawing your eye in towards the artwork. 

This may sound a bit wishy washy, don’t worry, we’re decently self aware over here, but hear us out.

Sometimes a frame that is flatter can overcrowd or distract the eye from the artwork itself, but because an angled frame slopes in towards the glass it draw the eye from the frame and in towards the artwork itself, keeping the gaze where it should be. For this reason…

…Angled frames can achieve a bold look without being too wide

Sometimes to achieve a strong bold look, you need to go bigger, and this is often true with box frames especially. The issue here is that bigger can sometimes overwhelm, but angled frames in their varying profile options afford you more flexibility here. One of our boldest but favourite profiles is this super deep one here, looks very intimidating when on the table but does an amazing job of giving a piece something bolder and stronger, whilst staying narrow enough to not be overwhelming. We know it looks scary on the bench but trust us - some of our favourite final products have come from using this profile. 

They are unique

You can so easily use angled frames as a nice alternative when you are wanting to keep everything looking super modern. Most people go straight to the box frames when they have contemporary homes, but an angled frame keeps that modernity whilst sometimes better complimenting the image, or sometimes just to add some variety. 

They can be a softer alternative to a box frame for more gentle pieces of art

Things like wedding photos, kids prints, or things with softer colour palettes, can look really great in angled frames, but are best in the two profiles that are at less of a sharp angle. They are a bit softer than a box frame, and add a bit of elegance to the look, whist still being clean and modern. 

Because a lot of these projects involve photos of customers, we don’t have too many examples, but the Vogue inspired print on the right of this image uses one.

They are PERFECT for the wide mat, thin frame look

Like with our clothing, the 90s are back in picture framing with the wide mat thin frame look, though maybe not quite as dramatic as their 90s counterparts. The wide mat thin frame look, whilst this is typically done with a thin box frame (our favourite is with the really deep ones for a dramatic look), it also looks great with the smaller angle frames. The balance is all down to a combination of print size, what the print looks like, and the personal preference of you (it’s going on your wall after all) but these little frames can handle it. 

And we’re out of room for examples, so here are a few more we have found in our rummage through the archives.

And there you have it! Why we love a good angled frame. We hope this was inspiring, and encourages you to give angled frames a good go the next time you’re in with a framing project.

You can email us any time with questions, just hit the button below to take you to our contact page.