Since the 1960s, Denis has framed his customers’ personal treasures: snake skins, wedding dresses and golden underpants
Denis Kosnar has spent 61 years framing personal and unusual items for customers in Melbourne, including snake skins, wedding dresses, and golden underpants. His family business, founded by his Czechoslovakian migrant father in the 1950s, once supplied most framers in Australia and New Zealand before downsizing due to financial challenges in the 1990s. Today, Kosnar continues his craft in a small Ascot Vale shop, preserving memories with traditional methods and handwritten records.
- ▪Denis Kosnar has been a picture framer for 61 years and is currently preserving a 2.6-metre python skin for a customer.
- ▪His father, John Kosnar, was a Czechoslovakian migrant who founded the family business and is recognized as the founder of Australia’s picture frame moulding industry.
- ▪The business once had a factory and 85 employees but scaled back in the 1990s, now operating from two workshops and a storefront in Ascot Vale.
- ▪Kosnar’s shop uses handwritten record books from 1993 and has no computerized system for customer orders.
- ▪The shop has maintained traditional practices, including using glycerin and rubbing alcohol to preserve organic materials like snake skins.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Sydney Morning Herald.