appears to thrive on staying busy. And he displays a knack for handling disparate tasks at once, without flinching. Not only that; everyone gets his undivided attention, if not an offer of assistance or a few helpful suggestions.
Fraser Wood Elements, which features a rustic look with wood shavings scattered on the floor, is less a typical retail operation than a portal, if you will, to a kind of wooden wonderland. Fraser calls it a “petting zoo” for
all things wooden. He says he wants his customers to “see, touch, and feel.” The shop resembles an art gallery devoted to wood. Except unlike most art galleries, Fraser’s shop sells things that aren’t meant as mere decoration. It’s easy to see the practicality, the functionality of objects made of wood. Wood is the gift that keeps on giving.
Fraser calls it a “petting zoo” for all things wooden.
(Clockwise from top): Fraser and store associate Kate Tsagronis in front of a display of Lazy Susans (prices start at $125); Fraser shop artisan Bill Denman; a walnut and cherry sofa table for sale; live-edge wood slabs are priced by the piece. This one, of silver maple, is ready to be turned into something glorious.
Fraser stocks wooden accessories and gifts, from wine barrels to backgammon sets to cutting boards to wooden pens. Also on display are samples of wall tiles, boards, flooring, and mantels. If you can visualize a custom project, he’d like to hear your ideas and make the project happen, like the $5,000 table with a hand-forged base he recently produced for a customer. A few months ago he expanded the shop to include a workshop in back, where he plans to hold woodworking classes, as well as monthly demos, like the wooden decoy carving seminar he recently hosted. The workshop is also a place to store the wooden slabs his customers use to select materials to design their own custom projects. The slabs, which include hard-to-find exotic woods, can come from as far away as Central America, Africa, and Europe. The gift items and window displays bring people into the store, but it’s the custom work that drives the business. Fraser and his wife,
Elizabeth, help customers visualize and design custom projects. Fraser and his staff are accomplished salespeople. They’re not pushy, just folksy and pleasant, and very enthusiastic. Fraser, born and raised in Rock Hill, S.C., graduated from the College of Charleston in 2004 with a business degree. After college he sold heating and air-conditioning equipment before working for a company that sold reclaimed wood, which remains an integral part of the current enterprise. He and Elizabeth, who is from Fredericksburg, married in 2009 and have one child, Thomas “Buice.” The family moved to Fredericksburg in March 2014 and opened Fraser Wood Elements shortly thereafter. Fraser seems able to engage people in a more direct way than most retail store or gallery owners. He’s not a woodworker himself. He’s the middleman, more of a facilitator. He’s got sources for reclaimed wood—which can come from old barns, corn cribs, railroads—and he can get contractors, craftsmen, and artisans to build things to order for his customers. Fraser Wood Elements is a perfect fit for its owner, an easy-to-relate-to guy with a can-do attitude. And Fraser has found plenty of folks willing to embrace his cause. His customers know quality when they see it and are willing to come out of pocket for custom items, beautiful things that will endure and make their homes distinctive. The store has shipped to clients in New York, Maine, Texas, and Montana, sales that have been generated from people stopping into the shop. “We’re trying to build an experience,” says Fraser. “Everyone can relate to wood.” Fraser’s favorite thing,
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