My name is Paul Raymond. I was born in 1972 in Harlow, Essex.
After 4 years Magnolia Mouldings transferred to Loughborough. I remained employed with them and commuted to Loughborough daily. Whilst working in Loughborough I learned how to manufacture the frames from bare wood to the finished article.
I remained with Magnolia Mouldings for a further 2 years when Larson Juhl whose warehouse was based in Northampton acquired them and I transferred to work from that warehouse. Whilst at Larson Juhl I learned cutting and joining skills and received training from the Fine Art Guild. By now I had met my wife and we were living in Bedford. After 6 years working at Larson Juhl Arqadia Limited acquired them and once again I maintained my employment but now with Arqadia in Bedford.
I continued to learn how to work with different mouldings and acquired a flair for knowing what mounts and mouldings were appropriate to use to compliment art work and pictures and photographs. I also learned how to display clothing without damaging the garment. I realised that framing items and being able to preserve them behind glass was something I really enjoyed doing and started framing more and more for friends and family. I also used moulding to create jewellery boxes and coasters and enjoyed experimenting with different ways to use the framing materials.
In 2008 my family and I moved to Wales to be closer to my wife’s family. I had always loved visiting Wales so it was a very easy decision to make, however it did mean leaving my framing career that I had worked at for many years. At that time I was not able to secure a framing job when I got to Wales and commenced work at Cardiff Airport.
Fortunately, in 2010 I had the opportunity to acquire some framing equipment of my own, and Cymru Framing was born!