Made In Tennessee: Havner's Frame Shoppe

In the back room of Havner’s Frame Shoppe, Charlie Havner is hard at work doing something he loves, building picture frames.

“I worked in banking for eight years and I realized as I was working in banking that I wanted to something where I could create, where I could do work that mattered,” says Havner.

Havner is the third generation of frame builders in his family. His grandfather opened the frame shop back in 1977, starting in his garage.

For Charlie, keeping his family legacy alive has been one of the biggest rewards of coming back to the frame shoppe.

“It’s such an honor, such a big honor, I feel like I am very blessed and fortunate to do that. Not many people are fortunate enough to carry on a family legacy like that.”

A part of that legacy is the personal attention to detail for each customer. Havner says he makes sure each customer gets a frame that best fits their personality and portrait.

“I really like to work with people and help them tell a story. That can be through color, through texture, through size and pattern, all of that.”

Here at Havner’s Frame Shoppe, every frame tells a story. For Charlie, one of his favorite stories involved a routine diploma framing.

“I frame diploma’s every day but this one was special. She just erupted into tears when she saw it and it was so much more important to me at that point when she told me that was the first diploma in her entire family, in generations.”

As for the future of Havner’s Frame Shoppe, Charlie says he is already preparing the fourth generation of Havners to take over when they’re ready.

“My son is six years old and he definitely has an interest in framing. He’s constantly saying ‘dad, can I come down to the frame shop, can I help you work?’ ”