You can watch the story of how we met and fell in love while working for Carnival. We were excited to be chosen to have our love story featured in one of Carnival’s social media marketing campaigns back in 2011. They shared a series of short videos throughout the day on Valentine’s Day highlighting our story. (We combined all of them into one video.) When you’re in the shop, you can see one of the love notes Giovanni left for Jill in that St. Thomas bar!
Owner & Artisan
Giovanni was born on the tiny island of Pellestrina, Italy, which is just a boat ride away from Venice. During his school years, he spent most of his time in his uncle’s woodshop after his homework was finished. Summers were dedicated to helping his father harvest black mussels from the Venetian lagoon.
After graduating from Merchant Marine School in the ’80′s, he got a position as a Deck Officer with Carnival Cruise Line. It was on board the M/S Tropicale in Los Angeles where he met Jill. After realizing that saltwater will eventually take a toll on the little screws in your head, Giovanni and Jill decided to get married! After they got married they moved to Venice for three years. Once they moved back to the US in 1994, Giovanni wasn’t having any luck finding a job in the maritime field. That’s when he rediscovered his passions for woodworking and photography – and his new goal became learning the art of framing.
It wasn’t long before Giovanni got the opportunity to work at Let Us Frame It. Shortly after, Jill joined the team too. Both Giovanni and Jill worked alongside Cathey & Sam for over 10 years in the shop. Giovanni is a gifted craftsman who draws on his years of experience when creating custom made frames for our clients.
When the previous owners retired in 2011, Giovanni and Jill chose to become the new owners of Let Us Frame It! In the last 10 years, Giovanni & Jill have been fortunate to have their two daughters, Valentina and Isabella, grow up with Let Us Frame It! They have become part of the day-to-day operations and both work in the store and love to help with special projects.
Owner & Creative Consultant
The most visible creators I know are those artists whose medium is life itself. The ones who express the inexpressible - without brush, hammer, clay or guitar. They neither paint nor sculpt - their medium is being. Whatever their presence touches has increased life. they see and don’t have to draw. They are the artists of being alive.
As far back as she remembers, Jill has identified as being creative. When she was three years old, she got her first introduction to color and design when someone gifted her a kaleidoscope and vividly remembers being inspired by the magical patterns the colors created with every turn. It wasn’t long after that when she received the big box of 64 crayons while in kindergarten. She was desperate to test out the colors so she decided to go ahead and use the big white walls inside her closet as her canvas. Always inspired by things around her – especially texture – silly puddy and playdough were also a big part of exploring her creativity growing up.
Jill realizes the importance of emotional connections to people and our history. Being an owner of Let Us Frame It has allowed her to fulfil this purpose in life because everything that is framed has some kind of memory or experience attached to it. Helping others create something that will be treasured for generations to come gives Jill great joy!
When people come to through the doors with a project, she gets to become part of the memories – she gets to travel with clients, attend weddings and baptisms and even honor loved ones who have passed away. Jill truly believes that we are the story keepers and it is our responsibility to document our experiences and memories or they will get forgotten by future generations.
Jill’s belief that everyone benefits from a creative life and artistic self inspires her own life. She believes it is important that your home is your sanctuary and safe haven so it should reflect who we are and our creativity – and what we love! She takes great pride in connecting with our clients, their stories and helping find the perfect combination to highlight and share their memories for a lifetime.
Creative Consultant & Marketing Director
Valentina is the eldest daughter of Jill & Giovanni. She has quite literally grown up in the business of photography and framing. Currently, she is a Master’s student in Venice, Italy.
If she were not working here at Let Us Frame It designing away, her dream job would be to work for an international health non-profit organization. Something surprising about her is that she has dyed her hair pink, purple, and red. Her favourite artist and piece is Abbott Handerson Thayer’s, Angel, 1887. When she has free time she loves being outdoors, painting, or reading.
Creative Consultant
Isabella is the second daughter of Jill & Giovanni and the younger sister of Valentina. If you’re lucky enough, you can catch her designing the windows or organizing all of our various mouldings and mats.
She is a jack of all trades and loves to try new things. She’s done crew, theatre, and is now in ROTC and swim, because of this she is able to hold her breath for 2 minutes! Her dream job is to become an FBI agent so in her free time you can catch her throwing her sister around in Jiu Jitsu. Her favorite artist is Henry Clive which is no surprise since it matches her reading genre of fantasy books.
Production
This is Erik! Aside from the Vianello Family, Erik is Let Us Frame It’s longest working team member.
If Erik were not working on framing projects or using our magical Wizard machine for mat designs, Erik’s dream job is to be a Space Settler and/or Wandering Wizard. A funny fact about Erik is that when he was 5 years old he was signed up for a tap dancing class to help with his poor balance…. However, on the very first day he fell and earned his first scar! This guy loves video games so in his free time you can catch him playing his favorite game, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
