A woman strolls into the framing shop clasping the hood ornament of a car. She doesn't know much about it, except that it was attached to the car her grandfather drove around town during his youth. Not wanting the trinket to sit in a dusty drawer any longer, she hands it over to a staff member and asks him to turn it into piece of art equipped to hang on a wall. Since The Preservation Framer's doors flung open in November 2008, its team has restored and preserved memory-laden keepsakes ranging from photographs to wedding gowns to violins. During each framing project, specialists use museum-quality materials to securely encase items within custom-cut frames, available in more than 700 colors and three fruit flavors. Exposed brick walls, hardwood floors, and a tin ceiling enclose the storefront, which doubles as an art gallery that showcases local, regional, and intergalactic artists' work at least four times a year. The Preservation Framer's downtown-area surroundings also keep clients entertained with an assortment of restaurants and boutiques.