VALPARAISO -- Framing Concepts has been recognized by Décor Magazine as one of the 100 best framing companies in the nation.

Framing Concepts also has been named Décor's 2007 top gallery in the category of "Ability to Increase Customer Service Through Improved Technology."

Framing Concepts was founded in August 2001 by Ken Bauer. He owned a craft supply store that also did framing when he came up with a business model for a framing company.

"I just thought we could create a model that was different to what you found in the industry," he said.

The changes Bauer wanted to make to the traditional framing business included a separation between the sales and production ends of the store. Framing Concepts has two separate design/sales and production departments, which frees the designers to work with customers to select and design frames, while the production department creates the frames.

In 2001 Bauer opened with locations in Chesterton (219 Broadway) and Crown Point (103 N. Main St.). In 2006 he opened the third Framing Concepts store in Valparaiso (74 Lincolnway). The company also operates a store in the Chicago Mercantile Mart that works exclusively with furniture designers.

The Chesterton location is the company's largest, with a 5,000-square-foot gallery and a 3,000-square-foot production facility that creates all of the company's frames.

Bauer's innovation in the business also netted Framing Concepts Décor Magazine's "Best Gallery in America for Design and Environment" for 2003.

According to Bauer, the business changed following the 2001 terrorist attacks. People seemed less interested in purchasing high-end frames for their artwork. Feeling a downturn in the numbers of people willing to spend large sums of money on framing, Bauer decided he had to alter his business model.

The company added visualization software that projects a proposed frame around a piece of art to show customers what it would like hanging on their wall. An automated rewards program has been initiated, as well as a point of sales system that organizes customers' histories from all locations, lets customers trace the progress of a frame and allows them to look online at finished projects. The company Web site explains décor themes to customers and allows them to purchase art and frames on-line.

The stores offer power-point presentations that show customers framing options. On the production end, the company has a programmable automatic mat cutting machine, that can produce 200 mats a day.

"It's a lot of changes to take place in five years and that's why we received this award," Bauer said. "We've done this and we've stayed alive. In the past five years, I would say 50 percent of the framing businesses that were out there have gone out of business. We've lost a lot of people in the framing industry, but we have survived."