Metropolitan was started in Minneapolis in 1960 as a family retail business and grew to 5 retail stores. In 1990 we moved from retail into manufacturing. We saw there was a need for fine art exhibition frames and moulding. We began marketing direct to the museum and fine art community and started selling over the internet in July of 1998.

Custom wood manufacturing Metropolitan manufactures our own moulding with high production manufacturing equipment including rip saws, moulders and production sanders in our own facility so you can be assured you are getting the finest American made hardwood frames and moulding available today. This equipment and manufacturing process is run by our excellent staff of employees who average over 10 years of service with us and take great pride in making beautiful frames and moulding. Our in house manufacturing assures you we never have a back order and we ship on time. The lumber we use is from renewable forests in the US and Canada and in most cases FSC Certified. Custom Designed Mouldings and Frames We offer custom designed mouldings to duplicate or match existing frames or replicate historical frames. Our frame designer has a degree in art history and over 35 years of picture framing experience. Custom Finishing by Hand Our finishing is one of Metropolitan’s greatest strengths. We finish our frames and moulding to order. Joined frames are finished after they are assembled to ensure the finest level of quality. Each frame or moulding is sprayed by hand so every inch of the frame is examined by one of our experienced employees. Black, white, and graphite finishes have seamless corners.

While being finished we match colors, if multiple frames are ordered. We use various finishing materials but in all cases they are either non or low VOC and non or low HAPs- free materials. We also offer unfinished frames and moulding.

Other Products & Services 
We also offer custom cut mats and backing boards. Our mats are cut on the largest and fastest CNC mat cutting machine in operation today. As a Rising distributor we can offer you 4 and 8 ply mats as well as Bainbridge foam core, coroplast and museum corrugated boards. We can provide you virtually any style and shape of mat. We stock boards from 32×40 to 60×104”. Regular & UV Acrylic We cut to size acrylic glazing materials in different thicknesses and grades including OP 3 with UV filtering. Metal Frames As a distributor of Nielsen metal mouldings we offer 24 -hour shipping on metal chops at very competitive prices.

Customer Service At Metropolitan you can talk to a live person who knows what they are talking about. And if they can’t answer the question, they will find some one who can. We’ve been in this business for over 45 years and our staff is very knowledgeable about the industry as well as our products and services. For those of you who are used to ordering 24/7, our website was designed for you in mind. Either way, you can always phone us to discuss any questions you may have. We take the responsibility of meeting our customer’s deadlines very seriously. Daily orders from one frame to hundreds move through our production system. Each is made, inspected, and professionally packaged to ensure it arrives on time  and  undamaged.