STEPPING into Faerie Fleur’s gallery is like walking into a magical fairy land filled with a treasure trove of delights: toadstools, and pops of coloured glass galore.
But the first question that comes to mind is where her name comes from.
“I’m the youngest of five kids and Mum wanted to call all the kids Fleur. She finally got to me, and dad said, ‘Fleur is a lovely name’,” Faerie shared.
“My dad was the forefathers of being cool and going to the birth, but they had a change over of nurses and the nurses that were cool with it left and the ones that weren’t came on, so he didn’t get to be at the birth.”
For about seven years she ran Fairies on the Walk on Gallery Walk and that was when the name Faerie stuck.
Sadly, two floods in consecutive years forced her to close the doors.
It was while working at a glass showroom she became fascinated with the art of making glass.
“I began watching videos and studying it,” she said.
In 2013 she went to study with David Palmer, a Jacob’s Well based glassblower.
She still uses the furnace he built.
“It’s very eco-friendly. He would be so happy for me and proud that I’m still sharing his dream,” Faerie said.
But glass blowing has its risks with dust and silicosis.
“I shorten my life a little bit every time,” she admitted.
“It’s the challenge,” she said that draws her to glass blowing. “There’s something so special about getting a gloop of glass out and manipulating it into something unique. Every time I make something it’s going to be different.”
Faerie is the only person teaching glass blowing in Southeast Queensland, but she said the number of people getting into it is growing.
From her hot shop she inspires and walks adults and children through the creation of their own special functional glass art pieces.
Faerie moved to the mountain in 2002 from Darwin with her young son to be close to her mum, Angela Bowden, who owned the shop Angel’s on the Walk for many years.
“I love lots about the mountain: I love the weather and the tight community. I can wave at the posty and know where he lives. People aren’t afraid to say hello when we walk down the street. I love how safe it is and how close all the national parks are,” she said.
“I love all the different plants. If you look in my fairy garden there are so many scrumptious orchids and little plants in there. Anything you put in the ground up here it jolly well grows.
“I work a lot, an awful lot,” she revealed. “I’m in the garden or concreting or painting or mosaicking.
“If I was going to have time off, I’d go to a creek or to family. I don’t like pubs, I don’t drink. I just like pretty things and nice people.
“I love having my chickens and my plants around.”
She is a chef by trade and still loves cooking.
“I just want to make people smile a lot. People ask me what is with all the mushrooms (the handmade toadstools in the garden), and I just want to make people smile, it’s so whimsical,” Faerie said.
“I loved doing the fairy shop and having been brought up with my mum everything was always pretty.
“If someone came in grumpy in the shop, I could always see them out of the shop smiling. I’m blessed with that gift and it’s a really nice thing to be able to make people happy.
“I don’t watch horror, and I don’t watch the news.”
And while some may consider it morbid, Faerie revealed one of the special things she makes are memorial orbs – beautiful pieces of glass filled with loved one’s ashes.
“They are one of my favourite things to do. Almost every time I feel like I connect with the person and respect their loved ones. I often ask the client to give me pictures so I can hold space for them in that moment when I’m making it,” Faerie shared.
