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History of Lion

History of Lion

 

LION has been in business since 1977.

 

Browse our photo album to see some pictures of us over the years, as well as cover artwork from the Lion Trade Catalogue going back to 1980. Below that you can read a potted history of the company.

History of Lion

 

LION was founded in 1977 by Martin Harrold and started as a picture framing business specialising in aluminium frames. With a background in vehicle parts marketing Martin soon saw that there was an opportunity to distribute picture framing supplies as well as offering a framing service. Within a few years distributing supplies had become a much greater part of the business and with the move to the current premises in 1987 LION disposed of its framing service to concentrate on distribution.

 

To begin with, LION specialised in supplying framing hardware and sundries using a catalogue and trade shows to present the products to customers. Over the years this catalogue became widely available.  As the company grew more product ranges were added, significantly framing equipment and a range of digital printing products under the Fine Print brand.  More recently there has been a significant extension of the moulding ranges, both traditional wood mouldings and LION's own polymer mouldings under the Minerva brand. The Lion team is over 60 strong and works from nearly 70,000 sq ft of warehouse facilities.

 

In January 2001 LION South opened at Hayes near Heathrow offering both a trade counter and a van delivery service into London and surrounding areas. In 2010 a second van route was added and the warehouse was doubled in size.

 

Lion has been an active member of the Fine Art Trade Guild for many years and was a founder sponsor of the Guild Commended Framer, GCF, qualification and still hosts the test in the Birmingham warehouse.

 

A regular exhibitor at trade shows both in the UK and abroad, LION exports to over 60 countries. The Lion website with on-line ordering is also offered in both French and German. An associate company in Russia, LION Art Service, established over 14 years ago, is a significant supplier to Russian framers and galleries.

 

LION celebrated its 30th birthday in 2007 with a Framers Event at the Birmingham warehouse which has since been replicated both in Birmingham and at Lion South. Recognising that education is vital for the continued growth of the framing trade, LION is a supporter of the Fine Art Trade Guild's ' Meet Learn Celebrate' and is planning new training initiatives of its own.