Transforming the aesthetic appreciation of paintings.(DEFINING DUMMY)(Interview)(Company overview)

COMPANY BRIEF Founded in 1983 and located on Manhattan's Upper Bast Side, Eli Wilner & Company (www. eliwilner.com) is internationally regarded as a leading dealer, restorer, and collector of 1.9th-and 20th-century European and American frames. The firm, which employs 40 master craftspeople, has restored and replicated antique frames for a variety of prestigious auction bouses, institutions, and museums over the years, including Sotheby's, Christie's, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the White House.

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Has your business been affected by current economic conditions?

My business focuses entirely on the billionaires of the world, so I was surprised at how slow June was for us. However, January through May were extraordinary, and we are 64 percent ahead of last year, year-to-date, so we're having a phenomenally good year. We have upped our staff to 40 employees, and we have opened up several new areas of interest to our clients.

How critical to your success is your relationship with the museums, and how do you work to build those relationships?

The museums are extremely important to us. From a personal perspective, it's important to me because I love being able to see the work I've done up on their walls. Something new we've done this year is to collaborate with museums throughout the country on a gifting program. We try to help museums that don't have funding. We have just restored approximately 20 frames for the New-York Historical Society and loaned them about 30 frames for their current exhibition. So I'm reaching out to institutions that don't have deep pockets, but making sure that our name and their names arc intertwined. The consciousness of curators has grown tremendously, and they all want their exhibits to look their best.

How has art-buying evolved over the years?