Frame fame: Deborah Lotz's Jewel Box Platinum creates displays honoring the achievements of the recording industry's top-selling artists.

DEBORAH Lotz had always wanted to run a business that combined her passions of art and music: designing those often-elaborate displays that frame gold and platinum records.

But to break into this niche, Lotz needed a crucial license from the Recording Industry Association of America. Only a few small firms have it, and the RIAA preferred to keep the coveted license on a tight leash.

Every few weeks, Lotz would call the woman in charge of licensing at the RIAA. "It got to be a pretty funny routine: I called and she said, 'No, sorry, I can't get you that license,'" Lotz recalled.

Meantime, Lotz, who had worked for years in a West L.A. frame shop, launched her own custom framing business called Jewel Box. The original business, opened in 1995, caters primarily to high-end clients who were willing to pay for hand-made frames.

But the music industry remained her dream. She went door-to-door to record companies, getting orders to frame their promotional materials.

Her big break came a year later, during a project she was doing for Madonna's label, Maverick Records. Maverick asked Lotz to design a custom-framed plaque for an upcoming presentation of the platinum record award for Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill."

"I went back to the lady at the RIAA and said, 'OK, I've got this contract to design the award for the biggest pop music star in the industry. Now can I have that license?'" Lotz recalled.

In a few weeks she was off and running.

Elaborate mountings

Lotz set up a Jewel Box Platinum division to make the framed gold and platinum record plaques and bought a small warehouse in Marina del Rey. (The retail store, providing traditional custom framing in Santa Monica, was renamed Jewel Box Frames.)

Inside the warehouse, half the space is set aside for the sales team and the other half for production, where up to a dozen workers take blank electroplated records and set about designing the plaque's internal layout and its frame.

Gold (500,000 copies sold) and platinum (1 million copies) records are no longer simply mounted inside a frame with the RIAA seal. Nowadays, the custom-designed plaques are keepsakes that can cost $1,000 and run as large as a small table.

The plaque commemorating the 15 million copies sold of Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me," for example, has 15 platinum compact discs--each representing 1 million copies--lined up on each side of a photograph of the pop chanteuse. The plaque is ringed with flags from countries where Jones has performed.

Others have photos of the musicians, holograms or even flashing lights inside.

Most of Jewel Box Platinum's orders come from record companies on behalf of the artists and are typically for special events or to send out as promotional material. It typically takes weeks or even months to come up with a design that meets the approval of the musician and the record company. Once the design is set, plaques can be turned out in a day or less.

Sometimes the orders are last-minute, giving the Jewel Box Platinum design team 24 or 48 hours to design and produce a plaque.

"When Ashlee Simpson's latest recording went straight to platinum a few months back, it was a Friday and she was coming into our office for a presentation early the following week," said J.P. Robinson, director of creative services for Vivendi Universal SA's Geffen Records. "We needed a plaque within 72 hours and Jewel Box came through with one of the most beautiful plaques I've even seen."

Robinson said Geffen has a handful of vendors that can flame the gold or platinum discs, but Jewel Box is the one he turns to when an elaborate design is needed. "They're just great on the details," he said.

Interior designer clients

Lotz said that these types of tough jobs are just what she lives for. "We may not be the easiest or the simplest at making frames, but I want ours to be the best frames on the market," she said.

The same principle applies to the retail custom framing side of the business, she said, where the client base is split between wealthy Westside residents and businesses like the Wolfgang Puck stable of restaurants.

Many clients are interior designers hired by wealthy residents who are willing to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a custom frame. One designer, Krista Everage, said she recently took an order to Jewel Box for a personal collection of European paintings owned by a piano manufacturer.

This part of the business, while not Lotz's greatest passion, provides two-thirds of revenues and a boost at a time when the consolidation of record companies has meant less work for all.

"Some of my competitors have had to sell out or scale back," she said. "I at least have been able to hold steady, which I consider quite an achievement."

The consolidation also has meant Lotz has had to hustle more to make contacts at the new music conglomerates. "When a record company gets swallowed up, your long-established relationships go right with it," she said.

Lotz said she hopes most of the consolidation is over, so she can once again focus her full attention on designing record plaques. "I want to be known as the person who will design the best flames," Lotz said.

PROFILE

Jewel Box Inc.

Year Founded: 1995

Core Business: Custom plaques for gold and platinum record displays; custom frames for other art

Revenues in 2002: $2 million

Revenues in 2003: $2 million

Employees in 2002: 17

Employees in 2003: 17

Goal: Slow, steady growth in both the record plaques and custom framing sides of the business; continuing to offer the best quality on unique jobs

Driving Force: Clients wanting someone who will take the time to make unique, top-quality frames