Desirables

Mobiles at Home

In mobiles made by Frazier & Wing, die-cut papers dance in a delightful, delicate balance.

By Kristin Belz March 12, 2012

 

Paper circles float from an invisible plastic disc and fishing line, creating a confetti of color.

When we think of a mobile, most of us probably envision either a child’s cut paper creation tenuously tied together with wire or string, or a formidable metal hanging sculpture by Alexander Calder, twirling slowly in colorful, grandiose glory. A middle ground is not what comes to mind. But that is exactly what Heather Frazier achieves in her beautiful, whimsical paper confections for her company Frazier & Wing.

She’s a former San Francisco clothing store owner (she had a shop on Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights for five years) who moved to Portland some years ago (with her husband Charles Hartman, whose fine art gallery is located on the North Park Blocks next to the Museum of Contemporary Craft). Once here, Heather decided to start a new store, this time on the web only. Her product? The paper mobiles she’d been experimenting with, and which were seeming to delight everyone who saw them.

 

The Rex mobile livens up a corner of this living room.

Now she’s expanding her virtual storefront with the collection of quirky vintage items she ends up finding during the antiquing and thrift store-shopping trips she can’t help but do in her spare time. Since she’s got a great eye for interesting and beautiful things, the online site is worth checking out.

Many of the pieces (too many) are quite tempting. (I’ve got my eye on the Forest Girl, though several of the tiny figurines are inexplicably calling out to me as must-haves.)

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Still, the mobiles are the stars at Frazier & Wing. They’re made of sturdy paper she cuts by hand with custom-made dies. It took some experimentation to get the system down, but now she’s got it. Her studio is a tidy array of colored paper and other supplies waiting to be transformed into hanging mobiles or wall garlands hung from tree branches.

Everything is made to order, since most of her business is done via the web and production is as needed. (Alder and Company in downtown Portland usually carries her pieces as well.)

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