We’re elated to launch an exciting new collection in our online store that doesn’t include jewelry!
Instead, it will feature handmade or small-batch goods created by talented designers we’ve met through the years. We’ve sold many of these products in our flagship retail store for some time and are confident that our customers will love them.
We’ve designed and handcrafted jewelry in our St. Francisville studio for almost forty years. For most of this time, our primary way of finding and connecting with our customers was attending craft and gift shows. These shows are the one constant in our yearly calendar.
Being a craft and gift show vendor is a strange pursuit that’s equal parts joy and toil. It’s nomadic for a time, unpredictable all the time, and always backbreaking work. It is an intense and emotional endeavor.
The show season starts in early winter, and preparing for it is truly epic. We have to produce the goods, build or update our booth, pack up our products, and organize travel logistics for shows in multiple cities.
Once at the show, setting up is a colossal job. Over the years, our booth has grown into the equivalent of a well-established retail outlet complete with walls, specialized lighting, and complex displays. When the doors open, we sell, sell, sell for twelve hours a day. When the doors close, we pack everything up and move on to the next city.
So many things can and have gone wrong. We’ve experienced unexpected weather events that have killed attendance, injuries, illness, and every other manner of outcome you can think of.
However, no matter what, it’s worth it. Over the years, we’ve become part of a community of crafters, makers, and designers that we absolutely cherish. It’s an intimate group of people who understand each other’s unusual passions.
Other designers know why you’re yawning before the first customer even reaches your booth. They also understand how making beautiful things makes you feel alive. They, like us, live an unpredictable sort of life.
We look forward to reconnecting with this community every year and deeply missed them during the pandemic. We’ve known some of these folks for decades. We’ve watched each other’s children grow into adults, and together we’ve reached an age when ‘normal’ people usually retire.
This talented and creative community has inspired our work in more ways than we can count.
We’re launching our Designer Collection to showcase their talents and to provide an online outlet to sell their work alongside ours.
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