I was a homesick exchange student in Hamburg, West Germany during the 1989-1990 school year. As history would have it, it was also the year that the Berlin Wall finally gave way to Western ideals.
In my dorm room above my wash basin hung a mirrored medicine cabinet. Each time I received a letter, I saved the very American postage stamps and taped them to the frame of my mirror. Each time I looked into that mirror, it made me feel better to be remembered back home.
At the end of my year abroad, I took the stamps home with me and glued them to a frame. I got so many compliments that I continued to save stamps and collage them onto frames as presents for friends and family. My eyes hurt and my fingertips were gooey, but soon an idea of mine evolved. Approximately one year later, I began to sell my frames in a few gift shops and small galleries.
My grandmother often sat with me while I made the frames. Sometimes, I can still hear her telling me which stamps are pretty and where to place each one. Eventually, each frame reveals itself to me as I continue to add stamps.
After my grandmother passed away in 1994, I began calling them “Florence Frames” in fond memory of the good company I’d been fortunate enough to keep for most of my life. Truly, each frame is complex and unique. I’ve lost count over the years, but I’m very sure that I’ve created over 200 Florence Frames since 1990.
