HSN-TV to feature Manatee couple, the Frankensteins, and their patented picture frame

MANATEE -- The classic picture frame has a hole in the middle where the picture goes and a back piece to hold the picture inside the hole.

But a husband and wife from Ruskin say they have reinvented the picture frame by making it magnetic.

Jens and Christie Frankenstein -- yes, their last name is the same as the movie -- started Thistle & Poppy about two years ago and have a patent pending on their product, "Snap Point Picture Frames." Their wood frames, which have shapes different than traditional frames, are comprised of two pieces embedded with magnets, allowing frame owners to easily swap out the look of their frames in seconds.

Thistle & Poppy is on track to make $500,000 from frame sales in 2016, but that won't generate a profit as the Frankensteins say they have invested heavily in machinery to cut and sand the frames. They have a nearly 10,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Bradenton's Manasota Industrial Park, 1812 44th Ave. E., Bradenton,

But the company's bottom line might get a boost in May, when the Frankensteins' creation will be featured on live TV retailer HSN. Snap Point Picture Frames is part of

the "American Dreams" program at 6 p.m. May 3, the couple said. The show matches startup entrepreneurs with celebrity business experts.

The Frankensteins are hoping HSN-TV will be the spark that will make "Snap Point Picture Frame" a worldwide must-have.

"You can literally change a picture in a snap without taking the frame off the wall," said co-owner Jens Frankenstein, who inherited his somewhat rare, but not unheard of, last name in Germany from his German parents.

"We created this frame for moms because I am a mom and have more pictures than I know what to do with," Christie Frankenstein said. "You can change your frames as fast as kids change. It's the everyday frame."

The frames that Christie will sell on HSN come in three sizes: a 4-by-6 inch sells for $19, a 5-by-7 costs $38 and an 8-by-10 costs $56. Frame parts of the same size can all be interchanged.

"We have 10 base shapes, 19 trim styles and 15 colors, which come out to 42,750 combinations per frame size," Christie Frankenstein said.

Christie Frankenstein appears made for TV. She is bubbly and bursting with energy. She is also funny.

"When I found out Frankenstein was his last name, that was one of the driving forces to get me to accept a date," Christie said Wednesday.

"I said to myself, 'The potential is there. I could be the bride of Frankenstein.'"

Christie sent the couple's frames to representatives of the "American Dreams" show and she was accepted.

"I will actually be on TV to explain it, so it will be pretty exciting," Christie said.

In rehearsing for her upcoming appearance with HSN host Bob Circosta, Christie Frankenstein is sure how she will begin:

"Hello America," she says. "I am Christie Frankenstein. Yes, I did say Frankenstein. I have the coolest picture frames for you. These are unlike your average picture frames, not only for the different shapes and colors we offer, but in the way that they work. They're magnetic. I know. I just blew your minds. All you have to do to frame a picture is place it and snap it together."

Christie said the couple did actually toy with the name Frankenframes for their frames, because you literally take them apart and put them together like a certain famous doctor did with his subjects.

"While it is our family name and I love it, I wanted to come up with a brand and Frankenstein sounded gimmicky," Christie said.

Jens is the quiet and intense part of the Frankenstein team. He is a computer software expert who came up with the protocols for a computer-driven machine to cut out the frame parts in the rear of their manufacturing plant.

"We started the company two years ago by creating regular picture frames with the hole in the middle," Jens Frankenstein said. "But we found it was just too expensive to manufacture. I started telling Christie we have to streamline. We have to be more efficient.

Somehow, this idea was born to get rid of the backing and get rid of a lot of the work we had to do with regular frames."

Employees Angelica Hale and Janice Crawford were sanding down frame parts that were cut by the machine on Wednesday.

"I love it," Bradenton's Crawford said of her first manufacturing job. "It's hands-on. It's exciting. It's different every day."

"I think the frames are creative," said Hale, who is also from Bradenton. "I've never seen anything like them before."

The frames are being sold in stores in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, but not in Manatee yet, the couple said.

"We are looking for some small businesses in Manatee to pick up our frames," Christie said.

Manatee customers can purchase the frames through the company's website, thistleandpoppy.com.

Additional information: instagram.com/thistleandpoppy or 727-515-8393.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter @RichardDymond.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 11:26 PM with the headline "HSN-TV to feature Manatee couple, the Frankensteins, and their patented picture frame ."