Little Fledgling Enriches Her Bird Artworks with Beauty and Purpose

Meet Amelia from Little Fledgling Designs, a talented local artist whose love of birds and nature combine in her art and actions.

As I spend more time helping the White Feather Designs business at markets, I am fortunate enough to meet new people who make, create, bake and enhance our local communities in the Jervis Bay and Shoalhaven Regions. One such person I met along the way is Dani Peipert. She is championing her daughter Amelia, an artist and bird lover to have a market stall and share her gift.

Amelia’s “flock” of birds, who all have human names, are available on cards and other products, with a portion of sales going to BirdLife Australia. Photo: supplied

Amelia is autistic and was reluctant to have a story written about her, but her mum assured her that her gift and art is something people need to see. I agree with this, owning one of her works, named Morgan, a pink cockatoo hanging pride of place in my study.

She sells her products at local Jervis Bay and surrounds markets. Amelia says it started at school with an assignment. “We learn about business at school. I learnt how to do a business plan and joined my dad at his market stall. I eventually took over his stall and now I have my own.”

You might find Amelia’s work at one of the many local markets held around Jervis Bay and beyond. Photo: supplied

I was able to write a series of questions for Amelia to answer, to allow our readers to get to know her and her amazing talents.

At a young age, Amelia started drawing on reems and reems of paper and her parents Shaun and Dani, being environmentally conscious and not being able to keep up with the exceptional designs, put an Apple pencil into her hand. This was the changing point for Amelia. The ability to have her creative outlet, remaining environmentally friendly and being able to add more detail to her artwork was a match made in heaven.

Amelia is 12 years old and in year 7 at school. She says she lives in the land of Black cockatoos and peppermint trees. She clearly has a brilliant imagination and a sense of humour to boot. She lives with her parents and older brother.

Amelia uses “traditional” mediums like paint as well as digitally creating her “flock”. Photo: supplied

She has always loved birds with the hope to become a junior volunteer with Wildlife Rescue South Coast so she can help care for local injured birds. The idea is to help them recover and return to the wild where they belong and can flourish.

Her favourite birds currently are Hummingbirds, Blue Footed Boobies, Loons and the Cock of the Rock. I had to look up almost all of these to see what they were (I know a hummingbird!).

In an ideal world, Amelia would love to have a pet that was still able to be wild, her preference is the Blue Footed Booby.

In our correspondence I asked Amelia what her hobbies were, I didn’t know there were so many ways to fit in birds! Amelia has told me her hobbies are “Building Lego birds, bushwalking to look for birds, reading about birds, drawing and painting birds and playing a board game called Wingspan” which, you guessed it, is about birds!

It is clear she has a fierce passion for birds and this world needs more of Amelia’s style of unwavering dedication to natural beauty and the need to appreciate and protect it.

Amelia’s passion and talent for art were apparent from a young age and encouraged by her parents. Photo: supplied

In corresponding with Amelia for this story, one thing that fascinated me was her human names for all of her “flock” as they are so lovingly called. Her answer to why does she use human names… why not? Some of them are funny names and others are named after special people in her life. The second part really resonated with me as I have named some of my products after significant people in my life too. Good thinking Amelia!

Amelia’s beautiful bird-themed products include indoor plant stakes, like this one she is preparing for a customer. Photo: supplied

This unique and different way of thinking is like a superpower for Amelia, in her business she does things a little differently. “I donate a $1 from every sale to BirdLife Australia and my cards are made with recycled seeded paper. So you can plant them instead of throwing them away and grow flowers for the birds,” wrote Amelia. Both of these initiatives show her unique and powerful thinking.

I asked Amelia if she could let us in on a secret of her business, for example, is there a new product she is looking to release? Her answer: ‘I do but it’s a secret so why would I spill a secret?’ Luckily she did say that she is planning to sell colouring sheets of her beautiful flock so you can make your own amazing works.

If you get the chance to see Amelia or her parents Dani and Shaun at a local market, be sure to stop by their stall and check out the beautiful artwork in the flock. She has framed artworks, indoor garden stakes, seeded gift cards and wooden magnets. Check the Little Fledgling website to find out where their stall will be on any given weekend or contact them via email to get more information.