Partners laid framework for success

PICTURE PERFECT: The Preservation Framer co-owners Rob Dziubek, left, and Matt Slobogan founded the company in 2008 after meeting at a former employer and discovering they shared similar artistic and career goals. / PBN PHOTO/CHRIS SHORES
PICTURE PERFECT: The Preservation Framer co-owners Rob Dziubek, left, and Matt Slobogan founded the company in 2008 after meeting at a former employer and discovering they shared similar artistic and career goals. / PBN PHOTO/CHRIS SHORES

Everyone said they’d never make it. When Matt Slobogan and Rob Dziubek, two local guys with vast practical and artistic experience, but no business expertise, wanted to open up their own framing shop in a largely suburban community filled with “super stores” and shopping malls, friends, relatives and colleagues said they were crazy.
The economy – especially for operators of small, niche businesses – was not looking good.
“They said, don’t do it, you don’t have enough visibility or experience,” Slobogan said. “We’re [now] having our best year ever.”
The shop, The Preservation Framer, on Washington Street near North Attleboro’s center, held its opening party in mid-November 2008.
Business partners Slobogan and Dziubek met in 2004 when the former, fresh off 10 years of giving drum lessons, went to work for what was then Corners Framing shop. Though they eventually discovered they shared the same career and artistic goals and visions, they tell very different stories about getting there.
Dziubek, 45, grew up in Franklin, Mass., where he still lives and earned a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in fine art, from Saint Anslem College in Manchester, N.H.
After graduation he came back to Massachusetts and started work at Koenig Art Emporium and then at Frame King, which eventually became Corners Framing.
First working the sales floor, he dabbled in framing on the weekends during the full-time framers’ days off and eventually was trained in the trade.
“The English field was so saturated [then] and I had an art background and a strong interest in [art] as well,” Dziubek said. “I liked the idea of not sitting in the office, not being in a cubicle, the idea of creating something. I liked the fact that at the end of the day I could physically hold up something and say, ‘I did this today.’ ”
After Corners bought Frame King there were several co-workers who left to go it on their own but, Dziubek said, nothing felt right.
Until, that is, Slobogan showed up.
A goal of becoming an art teacher sent him to Massachusetts College of Art in Boston from his hometown of Plainville, Mass., but after a year there he decided to follow a different path and spent several years exploring other career options, including auto-body work, screen printing, graphic design and teaching drums. He went to work at Corners in 2004, seeking more reliant income.
“It was still somewhat in the art field and at first I thought I was learning something new,” Slobogan said. “It was a new side, [the] presentation of art. I didn’t know they were about to go [under].”
Sensing the corporation’s demise, Slobogan began to work on a business plan of his own. His vision was to open a shop focused on customer service and quality work that would be able to use local vendors, and provide a small gallery space for local artists.
“Talking with Rob, it seemed the best way to do it was to be partners,” he said.
The duo selected North Attleboro for its solid customer base and assumed unfilled need with Corners out of business.
They spent some time redesigning the storefront to include an open floor design that would allow ample wall space for artist displays and self-promotion of specialty work they produce, including prints to canvas and creative digital and ‘pop art,’ a la Andy Warhol.
“Word of mouth has been our best advertisement. We spent a lot of money running in circles [that way],” Slobogan said. “I think [our success is from] treating customers right and networking, making sure [customers] are happy and were telling their friends and relatives.”
The shop opened with just the two of them but a front-of-house employee just came onboard.
Of course, they are still fine-tuning the business.
Some vendors they came to rely on have since gone out of business and they are looking for new, American-based, preferably eco-friendly, frame manufacturers.
Slobogan also is working with exhibiting artists to develop prints in order to offer a wider range of prices in hopes of attracting a larger customer base for that business side.
A new exhibit typically goes up each month. The shop’s next art night, on July 28, also will serve as a fundraiser to help establish a Preservation Framer Art Scholarship Award for a student at North Attleboro High School.
“I think [our shop] works really well because we really have a shared vision and common goal but we are really different people,” Dziubek said. “We’re so invested in this business and offering the best possible service at the best possible price.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
The Preservation Framer
OWNERS: Matt Slobogan and Rob Dziubek
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Framing company
LOCATION: 16 North Washington St., North Attleboro
EMPLOYEES: 3
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2008
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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