Photography: Tristan McKenzie
Leaving Johannesburg in South Africa at the age of seven completely changed Keren Fraser’s life. “It was getting quite violent over there, so when we got to New Zealand and our parents said, ‘You can go to the beach, the bush, anywhere, it’s super-safe,’ I remember looking at them like they were crazy,” she recalls.
She quickly adjusted to this new free-spirited existence and spent a lot of her childhood outdoors, barefoot, playing in the wilderness beyond her street. “It was an amazing upbringing,” she says. “I think it’s where a lot of the inspiration for my work comes from.”
At a glance
Who: Creative and owner of Fledge and Thread, Keren Fraser.
What she does: Makes hand-painted botanical homewares, original artworks and ceramics.
Where: Keren lives in Perth. Her studio shop is on Glyde Street, Mosman Park.
Why she does it: “I have a drive to create homewares that bring joy to people in their homes. Home is the most important place on Earth.”
Visit: fledgeandthread.com.au, @fledgeandthread.
When Keren was in university her parents had an opportunity to move to Perth and being close to them, she decided to move, too. After graduating from a design course she fell into retail management for brands such as Apple.
Although she was always artistic, she wasn’t sure if she could ever make a living from it. “When I was growing up, my dad, who was creative but also had an amazing business brain, would always tell me I needed something to fall back on. He was being protective, like any parent. So I sort of went down other avenues, you know?” Keren explains. “I would always come back to painting, though. My heart was always there.”
It wasn’t until she was on maternity leave with her second child that Keren let herself follow that calling as a career. “I thought, you know what, I’m going to start painting again.” When night fell and their creaky-floored Art-Deco home fell quiet, she’d pick up the brush and paint. “I put a couple of things online and people were interested. So I thought, ‘I’ll keep going’.”
It’s been a year since she launched Fledge and Thread’s full range of hand-painted homewares online. Her retail roots have come in handy, with her studio store in Mosman Park opening in February 2023. “I drop the kids off at school and open the shop,” she says of her routine. “I paint from here, so it’s my workspace, too.”
Stepping inside is like entering a store in France. Fruits and florals weave across napkins, cushion covers, tea towels, tablecloths and children’s bedding, all made from organic, ethically made fabric. “A lot of customers come in and say, ‘This doesn’t feel like I’m in Perth, it feels like I’m in Europe,” says Keren.
Her original artworks have a transportative wistfulness to them, too. “My mum was a history teacher,” Keren shares. “The stories she told us when we were kids really sparked our imagination, so I think that’s from her.”
As for her dad, he couldn’t be more proud. “Now he’s really supportive of what I do,” says Keren. That, along with the joy her homewares bring to people’s lives are a daily reminder that she’s on the right path. “A lady messaged me the other day saying, ‘I got one of your paintings and I cried when I received it, it’s just so beautiful,” says Keren. “It’s pretty special when you get feedback like that.”
When it comes to her son Lennox, five, and daughter Quinn, three, pursuing artistic interests, Keren will be their biggest cheerleader. “Our little girl is super creative and if she ever said to me, ‘I want to be an artist,’ I’d say, ‘Go for it’.”
