Hello and welcome to Amanda Fraser Handwoven Art.
My name is Amanda, I'm a mother to 4 beautiful children, an avid equestrian, a frazzled small business owner and amongst everything an Artist...the latter being my life long hobby that unbenounced to me would one day become my dream/business/passion all rolled into one. If you would have asked my younger self where I would be at 40....in a weaving studio certainly wouldn't have been the answer, but I wouldn't change it for the world! It's an indescribable feeling, creating.....choosing the textures, the fibers, feeling a yarn speak to me and letting the colors, inspirations and feelings flow out onto it. Everything created in the shop is entirely by hand. The studio is filled with infinite cones of different yarn blends and textures, each selected to fit the "mood" of the pieces I've envisioned. I measure everything by hand, dye everything by hand and the entire weaving process start to finish is on traditional floor looms. None of my equipment is powered by electricity, for a truly hand made product.
As some of you will know, this is my passion project and has been over a year in the making. 7 years ago I opened my weaving studio/business Arda & Henry handwovens....and boy has a lot changed since then! I still weave for Arda & Henry, which is primarily baby wraps but have been dreaming for a long time of a place where I could just fully let my artistic ideas flow...as I began creating Shawl pieces, I also began to wear them. I found the feeling of elegance, confidence, security and luxury that surrounds them is just so good for the soul...I wanted to create more pieces like this...I want others to have this feeling... and thus my name sake business was born :)
I'm starting off with just a sampling of products to kick everything off but have so many amazing ideas for this year and plan to weave away in my studio full time and steadily stock this shop with tons of amazing, luxury pieces.
A bit about the shop: I originally started my studio in an amazing 1800s bank building that I had renovated and dreamed of having an open studio/store front but the universe had other plans lol....as a mother of 4 and with Facebook sales doing brilliantly I eventually switched to a home based Studio, where I have worked from ever since. Now that 2 of my children have grown and moved on with their lives and another soon to be I decided it was now or never on this little side project I had been dreaming of and set in to action plans to turn it into a full blown second business! The past year has been full of trials, a lot of blood (well maybe not so much of this one, haha), sweat and tears have gone into making this a reality and I'm so happy it's finally here. I hope you find a piece that speaks to you and I hope it makes you feel amazing...I hope you enjoy these creations as much as I enjoy creating them!
