About Creative Framing
Deb Rolli, Founder of Creative Framing
In 1989, I left my retail framing job without knowing what came next. My customers found me anyway.
At the time, I was managing a frame shop in Muncie while juggling life with a three-year-old at home. The store hours meant evenings and Saturdays away — time I was missing from my daughter. So I left.
I was shocked when customers started tracking me down to do their framework. My work had spoken for itself, and they weren't willing to give it up. Emboldened by their trust in me, I tried something genuinely unusual at the time: a frame shop without a frame shop.
I installed framing equipment in my home and brought my samples to clients instead of asking them to come to me. I built a schedule that worked for my family. Girl Scout troop leader, PTA member, hands-on mom, and somewhere in between, a framer. I grew my business slowly and deliberately into something that has lasted through my daughter's childhood and the decades beyond.
What started out of necessity became a core principle of how I work. When I come to your space, I see what you see. The light, the scale, the surfaces, the way people will move through the space. I make recommendations based on the environment where the art will actually live. There’s no guessing from across a counter, and that’s still how I work today.
Outside of work, I lead Shift, a grief recovery program for kids navigating loss of a loved one. Following my own journey through grief, and seeing kids dealing with grief who had nowhere to go for support, I brought it to the Muncie community in 2022. Together with area volunteers, Shift continues to impact more than 100 local youths in grades 3 through 12.
I believe the best thing you can do is show up for the people around you. Muncie is a community I'm proud to be part of, and it shapes how I show up every day.