A spirit of innovation has kept Donovan's Custom Framing going despite the shutdown.

Custom face masks produced by James Trimm of Donovan’s Custom Framing using a Wizard 9000z cutter.

Custom face masks produced by James Trimm of Donovan’s Custom Framing using a Wizard 9000z cutter.

I recently had the opportunity to connect with James Trimm of Donovan’s Custom Framing in Summerville, South Carolina, just outside of Charleston. While not the reason for my initial call, one of the cool things I learned through the course of our conversation was that Donovan’s never closed shop during the pandemic. This was due, in part, to the innovative spirit of its owner, James Trimm.

When the COVID-19 crisis hit and started the snowball of shutdowns across the country, he looked at his Wizard 9000z cutter and thought to himself, “I bet this machine can cut other types of materials besides just matboard.” His shop happened to be located near a custom sign shop, so he wandered next door one day, and started testing various materials on his Wizard CMC to see what would work. Soon, James Trimm and Donovan’s was in the business of manufacturing custom face masks.

Because of his innovative spirit, James said that Donovan's has never closed shop during the pandemic. To-date James has produced and delivered face masks like these for many local hospitals as well as major brands with a prominent South Carolina presence such as: Boeing, NASCAR, and Volvo!

James says his business is going really well right now, and they are back doing custom framing as well as face masks.

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Meg Glasgow

Meg Glasgow is a nationally recognized consultant in the art and framing field, and winner of Larson Juhl’s first Design Star competition. She travels widely in the U.S., presenting sales and marketing seminars for small businesses, and has published several articles and books, including “Meg on Marketing, A Self-Help Guide for Small Business Success.”