Using her creativity and design skills, mum-of-three Taralee Fraley discovered a passion for creating acrylic keepsakes. Alongside her husband Ben, they launched Salt & Pine Store, their small family-run business based in Queensland, Australia. Established at the beginning of 2020, they pride themselves on creating unique painted and printed acrylic keepsakes to help you celebrate your pregnancy, birth, growing baby, and beyond. Here Taralee talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind Salt & Pine Store, how they balance work and family life, and the pros and cons of running their own business.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
When we moved 15 hours away from all our friends and family 4 years ago, I was feeling really lost. Ben was working long, hard hours and I was in a new town where I barely knew a single soul, so I realised I had to do something to give me a ‘reason’! I have always been very creative and knew it had to be something where I could put my design skills to use, so that’s how Salt & Pine Store came about.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
To begin with, I designed and created t-shirts for children, which then led onto other clothing pieces and accessories, but in January 2021, I found my true passion for creating acrylic keepsakes and it’s just grown from there!
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
Since really putting in the work with our acrylic pieces and expanding on those, we have continued to grow and grow, with some products becoming incredibly popular and reaching a huge number of people from all over the world on Instagram! I am proud of the growth of Salt & Pine Store and am so glad it means I can now work together with my husband every day towards our mutual goals and dreams.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
This has probably been our greatest struggle, especially as we have gotten busier and busier. We are constantly tag teaming with the kids, while running back and forth to the studio and often working until midnight after the kids are in bed to get all our orders out in time. Thankfully, my mum is able to help us with our 8-month-old 2 days a week most weeks, and we are considering taking on an au pair to help in the upcoming busier months. There are just not enough hours in the day to do it all!
