Hello, I'm Bron Alexander

I was born into a family of caterers in the mid-70’s. The family business was operated out of a very beautiful venue overlooking the river and specialised in catering for weddings. This early over-exposure to gorgeous bridal gowns, exquisite wedding cakes and 70’s party food means one thing - the paper doily is the symbol of my childhood! Living and breathing weddings every weekend is also the reason I could happily eat wedding cake for breakfast each day...

I spent many childhood days hanging around Mum and Dad’s business, so in-between buttering thousands of loaves of bread for club sandwiches and dipping a million or so éclairs into chocolate, paper doilies became my staple craft tool, and probably the cause of me becoming the paperphile I am today.

Those little paper lace wheels were decorated with glue and glitter, made into parachutes and paper flowers, and all the tiny pieces that fell out of them once pulled apart were carefully picked up and made into confetti. While Mum and Dad became the catering King & Queen of my local town, my imagination was cooking up all sorts of ideas about what my future might be like.

I don’t know that my dreamy childhood fantasy of securing a job with Max Factor as the “Head-Namer of lipsticks and nail polishes” was ever realistic, but as I grew up I never lost the need to keep my hands and imagination busy; always creating and always dreaming of having my own business just like my parents.

In the mid 90’s I started working at my local Museum of Art & History, it was there that I discovered the design software “Freehand” and fell completely in love with graphic design. Having two young daughters and bills to pay I wasn’t exactly in a position to study full-time for a design degree, but I was passionate, so I just started experimenting with design and taking on freelance work for anyone crazy enough to take me on.

While graphic design then became my career for many years, I started incorporating more and more illustrative features into my designs. I began to really let loose on this when I worked for a local magazine. And then it struck me that these little illustrations could be more than just a pretty addition to a page.

It started slowly... I would create a card for someone’s birthday, an illustration for my daughter’s bedroom wall and then a light-bulb moment where I realized that this was undoubtedly the future I had dreamed of as a child… being a fulltime illustrator.

Ok, so I’m jumping the gun a little bit, I still have to work fulltime to pay the bills, but I have become fulltime “outside of work” illustrator and view the opening my Felt store as a tiny step towards fulfilling a life-long dream.

My Felt stored is filled with all sorts of illustrations that were originally created for very special people in my life, and illustrations representing things in my life that I love…(note the many coffee illustrations). There are prints that pay respect to New Zealand artists I admire, prints that celebrate the unique native Maori language spoken in my country, and pretty little Babushka dolls with colour schemes inspired by some of my favourite childhood memories. All in all, the illustrations I make are straight from my heart and they each have their own story, which is why my brand name is my own name - my illustrations are an extension of myself.

The thought that my little creations, made in my down-under home office (a 1m x 1m space in my living room) become gifts for my customers friends, Aunties, Mums, Dads and kids and decorate kitchens, bedrooms and offices worldwide blows my mind.

My products are 100% created and manufactured in my hometown Hamilton, in the heart of the mighty Waikato. Supporting local businesses has become an important factor of my work ethic.

I have my awesome customers to thank for their support of locally made products, and the wonderful wider world for supporting independent artists like me!