Welcome to Kelso Frames, your store for Frames & Artist Canvases
Kelso Frames has been providing a top quality picture framing service since 1989 so we have many years experience and 100’s of satisfied clients in South Africa and overseas. In over 23 years of experience in the picture framing industry we have helped individual customers. organizations and businesses with every kind of framing job imaginable. No job is too small or too complex for us to handle.
Each one of our framers undergoes a rigorous apprenticeship and thorough training before working with the finished products for our customers.
We are confident that our online picture framing service, which allows anyone to order high quality made to measure frames, and artists canvases at competitive prices, is second to none.
As well as custom frames we offer a variety of products which can be used to display your photographs and memories quickly and beautifully.
Our shop displays a small selection of what we can produce.
For a custom order or for more information on our products please
Phone 021 706 2087 or email us at info@kelsoframes.co.za
and one of our assistants will be happy to help you.
Meet the team 
our Mission is to provide craftsman-quality frames that ship in about 5-10 working days at competitive prices whilst providing exceptional customer service.
Kelso Frames is a small family run business in the heart of the Cape Town southern suburbs. We set great store by the quality of our work, but also believe in the value of building relationships with our customers. We’d like to introduce you to the Kelso team who will assist you with your order.
Carol Cowan
Director
It’s hard to pin Carol down to one particular role. If something needs to be done, she does it. This is her nature: getting things done, and getting them done efficiently. However, if we were to give her a job title, it would probably be something like Head Honcho, or Boss Lady.
After qualifying from Stellenbosch with a BA – Industrial Psychology, Carol worked in the hospitality industry for many years. She gave 110% to her positions at five star hotels like the Lanzerac, Constantia Uitsig and the Cape Grace, before purchasing Kelso Frames in September 2020. She launched herself into running the business with the same enthusiasm and energy with which she embraces life, and there’s not much about her role that she doesn’t love. No days are ever the same, and she relishes the variety that this presents. The people, the team, the beautiful art….what’s not to love?
Carol sets great store by service delivery and is passionate about customer relationships.
When she’s not at at the Kelso factory or on the road, Carol is usually doing some kind of exercise, or spending time with her family and friends. Sometimes she does it all at once: a run and a swim in the sea with friends, then coffee or breakfast with friends and family. On a cold, rainy Cape Town day, you’ll often find Carol doing a 1000-piece puzzle with a glass of wine close by. But what’s always clear is that she embraces life and everyone in it.
Mike Lea
Operations Manager
Kelso’s Operations Manager, Mike Lea, is a professional picture framer with 5 years experience in the industry. He has a wide variety of skills and loves to help people. He has traveled and lived overseas and experienced some wild adventures around the globe.
Mike took Art right through school and has a huge passion for the creative and artistic world. He has a woodworking business at home and loves to create things and build.
Aside from work he loves music, travel and photography. Mike has spent almost 20 years
taking photos and can definitely snap a pro pic if you need one.
Mike found his way to Kelso in Mid 2023 and has really enjoyed becoming a part of the team.
“It’s a small but strong work force!” he says and believes that the crew at Kelso has a great attitude towards work and making sure customers are our main priority.
Bertie
Master Framer
Bertie is by far the longest-standing member of the Kelso team. He’s logged over two decades with the business, and is still going strong. As master framer and block mounter, Bertie is responsible for cutting and preparing all the wood for the frames and block mounts, making his role a pivotal one.
Bertie has an inherent passion for framing and after 37 years in this industry simply can’t see himself ever doing anything else. He particularly loves learning new techniques and gets great satisfaction out of framing customer’s work and delivering a well-finished piece that they love. His work doesn’t end at work, though. In his free time, Bertie busies himself at home with various DIY projects – A busmans holiday indeed!
Bertie loves dealing with challenging requirements and unusual framing jobs and his positive attitude and love for his work motivate him to provide the perfect framing solution. He is blessed to work with his son, and enjoys seeing him every day.
Rusty
Canvas Frame Specialist
Rusty’s the new kid on the block, if you can count ten years at Kelso as new! He officially works on the production side making stretcher frames, artist canvases and memory blocks, as well as stretching canvases and cutting the wood to size for the stretcher frames.
Rusty loves working with his hands and takes immense pride in his work. Balancing superior work and time constraints is a learned talent indeed and Rusty takes it in his stride.
Assisting customers decide on the perfect way to frame their treasured artwork or photograph is another part of the job that Rusty really enjoys.
While Rusty enjoys the creativity of his job and working with his hands, his other passion is music and dancing. He used to dance Hip Hop professionally, but now in his spare time, you’ll find him writing music, tinkling the keyboard ivories and producing music with his friends.
