Art Design Consultants recently named nation’s No. 1 art and framing company

Litsa Spanos has this advice for those who want to go into business for themselves: Do something you love and you’ll never regret it.

That mantra has served her well as her company, Art Design Consultants in Pendleton next to the Pendleton Art Center, has just completed 15 years in business and has been recognized with several honors including being named the No. 1 art and framing retailer in the country by Décor magazine in 2006 and 2007.

“I love coming to work,” said Spanos, 44, of Loveland. “This is what I truly love to do. I’m surrounded by beauty every day.”

Marketing artwork was not what Spanos started out doing after graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in education. She originally worked in sales for a local condominium builder.

Her first job in art sales was for a gallery in Grand Rapids, Mich. The experience made her realize that she wanted to spend her career in a business dominated by art.

Spanos said she was inspired to start her own business in part by her parents, Pete and Sofia Rombis of White Oak. After immigrating to the United States from Greece in 1967 when his daughter was just three years old, Pete Rombis opened a small grocery on the West Side.

Growing up working in the store and seeing his success, Spanos said she knew “anything was possible.”

After working in Grand Rapids a little over three years, she moved back to Cincinnati and partnered with her sister, Sylvia Rombis, to buy an art business in 1991 from a couple who were planning to retire. At the time, the company had only three customers.

In 1992, she purchased her sister’s share of the company and renamed the business Art Design Consultants. She has built it into one of the largest businesses of its kind in the country with over 2,000 customers.

Originally working out of a basement, Spanos said she would visit local companies making sales calls during the day and frame at night.

Shortly after taking sole ownership, she moved to a small space in the Pendleton Center, which only housed about a dozen artists at the time. Pendleton now has more than 150 artists.

“I saw the vision that it could be an art destination,” said Spanos.

She continued to pursue corporate business for her company and gradually built a strong client base. Today, about 30 percent of her customers are large companies, 20 percent are interior designers, 25 percent are artists, and 25 percent are private collectors.

She said corporate leaders are very interested in high quality art today because it brings a sense of style and accomplishment to their offices and also improves employee morale.

“There have been studies that have shown that when a work space is beautiful your employees are more productive and happier,” she said. “Art makes you feel good.”

Spanos said she has actively marketed her services around the country to develop client and artist contacts from many cities.

She attends large national furniture and interior design shows in North Carolina, New York and Las Vegas, plus she makes use of the Internet and special events such as collaborative art shows with the University of Cincinnati to build her brand.

All of these efforts have helped to more than triple her art sales in the last five years and put her in the top 5 percent of all art and framing businesses in the U.S. for profitability, according to Décor magazine. She declined to reveal specific figures, however.

Her customers value her keen eye for art and for matching pieces with stylish framing.

Joan Shevchik, a spokesperson for Cincinnati Financial Corp. of Fairfield, said Spanos and her company are one of several studios who have helped select extensive artwork for their offices.

“Our relationship with Art Design started more than 15 years ago when they mainly offered framing services for art we were placing in … our headquarters in Fairfield,” said Shevchik. “Their impressive service and knowledge of the local art scene earned them an opportunity to do more.

“Over the years they helped us add many wonderful, local artists to our collection, supporting our arts community while creating a pleasant environment for our associates,” she said.

Nancy Paul of Interiors by Nancy Paul and Julie Bell in Montgomery said she has worked with Spanos for about five years and values her keen eye for choosing the right frame for a painting or print.

“She has so many different frames and the range is very wide from contemporary to traditional,” she said. “I think when you walk into her studio, it’s inspiring.”

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