GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Picture this.

It was 20 years ago this week that Katie Maleckar began making portraits, paintings and other keepsakes look just right when she opened Prince George Framing Company in Georgetown.

Although the majority of the time has been spent on Front Street, on Sept. 1, 1990, Maleckar — a Georgetown native — began her business in the Georgetown Plaza.

“It was kind of a fluke,” she said as she told how she got her start. “Steven Richards had a store on Front Street and out of the blue he called me one day and asked if I was interested in making frames.”

Maleckar said it is something she had always wanted to try so she accepted the offer.

She worked for Richards for about eight months and then bought his equipment to begin her own store.

She said it was her husband, Bryan, who came up with the name.

“I didn’t want Georgetown or Winyah because those were everywhere,” she recalled.

Her craft is actually called custom picture framing.

“We pick out what type and color frame looks best with the art,” Maleckar said. “The frame can make or break a piece of art.”

Of course, pictures are the main things that get framed but they are not the only things.

Maleckar said she had a customer who had her frame a kangaroo hide and one man had her frame the teeth of his deceased mother.

Not quite so strange was a request from a bride to have her wedding dress framed.

Maleckar said through the past two decades she has developed a loyal customer base.

She said the joy she gets from her job is knowing a customer is satisfied.

“When someone picks up a piece of art and says ‘Oh my God, it’s gorgeous.’ That makes it good for me,” she said. “And I get that a lot.”

Maleckar has worked alongside her daughter Aimee Salmon for the past 15 years.

“I wanted to learn what she was doing,” Salmon said of her decision to join her mother. “It is fun to meet new people and it has been a wonderful learning experience.”

Prince George Framing Co. is located at 805 Front Street.

By Scott Harper

sharper@gtowntimes.com