What We’re Building at 105 North Church

We always love when people who didn’t even know Havner’s existed stop in the shop. This week, Adelino Ramirez, a traveling photographer and all-around interesting guy, visited the workshop and had a conversation with Charlie about our story and place and what it means to live a curious life. It’s easy to live in the weeds with all the moving parts that make a business go, but it is such a nice reprieve to get to talk about the part of the shop that keeps us showing up- our story.

I know you’ve all heard our story, but in case you haven’t, here’s an abbreviated version. Charlie is the third-generation Havner to own and operate the frame shop. He put his first frame together for a customer at eleven years old and grew up learning the trade in our Campbell Street shop. After a stint in banking, Charlie joined the frame shop full time and has never looked back. Trista (a former high school history teacher) joined him in 2018 when our youngest went to kindergarten. Together, they assumed ownership of the shop in January 2020 (absolute perfect timing) and moved the shop to our downtown location in 2021.

When we moved, we knew we wanted to add a gallery. Art is a powerful vehicle for community and we wanted to facilitate community however we could. It is an honor to host local artists for solo shows. It’s an honor to curate community shows and host openings and amplify the amazing art that Jackson has to offer.

These days, you’ll catch us using the same techniques and machinery that Charlie’s grandfather, Mr. Ray, used in 1977. The same care and quality that our customers have enjoyed for almost 50 years goes into every piece that leaves our shop. We really could not be more proud of what we have built and what we are continuing to build at 105 North Church Street in our beloved Downtown Jackson, TN.

Jackson, TN

SoHo is home to the world’s greatest collection of cast-iron architecture. But more than that, SoHo is unique among New York’s neighborhoods for its classical French and Italian architectural designs. It simply doesn’t look like anywhere else, not even the neighboring West Village or Lower East Side. 

For one thing, the colors are much more distinct in SoHo. They’re brighter. Perhaps that’s a reflection on the people living here. But for many of the cast-iron buiildings that give SoHo it’s unmistakable character, the reason for their bright coloring is actually pretty obvious: whenever you construct anything from wrought iron, it’s going to look like, well, wrought iron.

So the colors of SoHo as they’re known, or at least as they ought to be known, the colors that are just a street photographers dream come true (where else can you find so many amazing backdrops?), are actually the result of many, many coats of bright paints. And they light up a photo in ways even a flash cannot.

For me, it’s all about New York streets. They’ve been immortalized in who knows how many songs and poems, movies and books, but even though I’ve spent years documenting them with my photography, I don’t think I’m any closer to understanding them than I was when I started. They are their own kind of art, and for a photographer, all you need to do is setup the shot and take it. I have lived in New York for only five years, but I have been a working, professional photographers for fifteen years now.

Street Scenes

You never know what you’ll find on the streets. And if you happen to be a photographer working in New York, that’s doubly true. I’ve had the good fortune to shoot all over the world, and when I come back to New York, I’m always reminded of why I started my career here.

The New York street scene is, for better or for worse, the street scene. It’s the one that is the most iconoclastic, and because of the backdrop of New York, it’s the one that I think people from just about anywhere imagine when they think of the idea of a street scene—whatever a “street scene” happens to be.

I created this album to showcase some of my favorite street scenes that I’ve captured in New York. This is nothing that I’ve done on contract or in my studio, just real life moments captured by me with my Mark III when I had some time to kick it around the city. I hope you like what you see. I did.