FREE MONITORED PARKING IS AVAILABLE!
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Spend the day out with best friends or family and come visit us in downtown Wilmington Delaware. We will have in-store refreshments and a you have a chance to register for our big Spring Fling Gift Giveaway Game. Check out the link below for details on this in-store event and game. Tour tickets will be on sale at our Wilmington location until the tour ends on May 10th.
What a great way to spend time with Mom!
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I met Katie Centrella while attending a retail buyers show in Philadelphia. I had been planning to feature a local candle or soap artisan in my retail store for nearly two years and felt the time was right to move on the idea. My requirements were that they be 100 percent local to the area, handmake their own products and practice slow fashion methods in their production. I wanted to find an artisan whose candle and soap products really stood out as exceptional in craftsmanship, visual design, and product quality. Lastly, they had to be a good complement to my leather goods, have great potential for future collaborations and have a strong appeal to my customers.
I assumed I would have to find different artisans for candle and soap. When Katie began showing me the KC Essentials line, I knew that she had something special. Her story is indeed inspiring, but she backs it up with exceptional quality and design in her products. As a fellow artisan and maker, I know how challenging it can be to stick to your principals when launching a line of products. Standing firm on your use of quality natural ingredients such as essential oils, plant-based glycerin's, quality plant fragrances without…chemical dyes and preservatives, yields a much more expensive product. The product must deliver results that shine through.
As a leather artisan I work with paper, fabrics, leather, paints, and adhesives all day. I am constantly washing my hands and handling materials that absorb oils from my skin. Having rather dry hands benefits leatherwork in that one is not transferring unwanted lotions onto fine leathers and hardware. However, I tell my customers all the time that conditioning and moisturizing their leather goods is critical toward extending the life of their investments.
Without proper care hard dry leather cracks and fades, ruining the finished product. Using the wrong type of conditioners on leather items can rob the item of needed protection or cause permanent discoloration. The same is true for our bodies, but unlike a fine calfskin bag, our skin is alive. Our skin is a constantly changing breathing organ. Skin is the largest organ our body has, and usually the first to tell us when something is wrong internally. From puberty’s presentation of pimples to the well-earned wrinkles of middle-age, we seem to be in a constant battle to tame our skin.
I’ve always had mildly sensitive skin when it came to commercial cosmetics, resulting in my reluctance to test new skincare products. I’ve had allergic reactions that involved everything from sketchy skin creams to washed fruits so farmed with pesticides and preservative chemicals they had breached the outer skin of the fruit.
Those early experiences made me cautious when it comes to makeup or non-organic fruit. However I never put as much focus on soap or body washes. I have used higher end commercial body wash and soaps from brands like Neutrogena or Honest, they smelled great, were easy to lather and seemed to have the blessing of upscale hotel chains so I didn’t have to bring my own when traveling. I had always noticed that I would need to apply moisturizing lotions or creams to prevent tight, dry or itchy skin a few hours later. I had always blamed those aftereffects on hard water, hot shower temperature (though cool water showers didn’t fix it) or dry hot summers.
It was only after having a conversation with Katie Centrella about the ordeals of eczema we had both seen in our children at a young age. I was truly inspired by her story of pursuing and finding a solution for treating her sons skin challenges. Her discovery of his sensitivities to so many of the ingredients commonly used in today’s soaps and body washes motivated her to find a solution.
Upon deciding to carry her line in my store, I wanted to try the products so that I could give a firsthand account to my customers on how they performed. Since my daughter also suffers from eczema, I was hoping the KC Essentials products would be helpful for her. I decided to give each of the products I would stock a try. As anyone with brown skin can tell you, we have a much harder time masking skin dryness. Dry, ashy skin shows up much more pronounced and sometimes unexpectedly for us. Those of you how love getting a summer tan have probably noticed this phenomenon as well.
Trying KC Essentials Products
I decided to test bathing with the vegan bar soap for seven days. I would still use regular commercial hand soap for washing my hands throughout the day. This would give me a way to compare the outcomes.
I have now been using KC Essentials personal care products and candles for over a month and have fallen in love with everything. I haven’t had to use body lotion since I started using the vegan bar soap. No dryness, itchiness, or ashy skin. I know feel like my night creams and facial moisturizers are working better because they are not fighting thru a film of fake soap and fragrance. Months ago, you would not have been able to convince me that my commercial body wash was covering my skin in cheap silicones, surfactants and preservatives that were drying out my skin. Sometimes you must try something new, to you realize you deserve better.
You can find the KC Essentials collection of products below . We also now feature Katie's products in our Wilmington Delaware flagship store. You will find Katie Centrella’s product listed in our Home & Beauty department.
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The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is back with a wonderful lineup of International and local artist. Bring your chairs, a picnic basket or stock up on wonderful eats with some of the regions best food trucks. The festival will occur rain or shine, so don't forget an umbrella just in case.
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Maps have a the ability to bring back memories of excursions in our past or create longing for new adventures. The making of maps, possibly as old as the making of leather, has developed over the centuries into a beautiful art form. I drew inspiration for my forthcoming travel collection from cartography of the nineteenth century, a robust period driven by the increase in world travel and industrialization. The Victorian era’s influence on travel is reflected in everything from its vintage maps to private train cars. To invoke a bit of vintage travel nostalgia I packed up my swatchbook and sketchpad to take a round trip hop to Mt. Cuba on the Wilmington Western Railroad .
The gentle sway of the train, the music like churn of wheels on track easily lead to day-dreaming. My thoughts wandered to the allure of maps and the way they make us yearn for adventure. Romantically portrayed in Hollywood movies, trains have been used as a stage for intimate conversation and provoking thought. Travel in beautifully decorated train cars is a rarity today. Yet maps and railways have a profound relationship that have shaped borders and continue to fuel our imaginations. A quick fashion sketch on the train ride sets the groundwork for my design. I combine elements from both cartography and Victorian travel. I start with colors: chestnut brown joined with red, olive, black. The marriage of vintage map inspired fabrics and pebbled grained leathers set the mood for this collection.
The Fortuna trench coat is made in cotton twill canvas combined with chestnut brown calfskin leather. Red piping follows the princess seams and edges. A cheetah print lining in polyester satin , allows the coat to slip on smoothly. Polyester was chosen to provide warmth without the bulk of heavy materials. As you can see in the makers video below, there are a number of layers that are placed in the trench to add body and structure to the finished garment. Camel hair canvas is one such layer, which gives the breast, lapels and collar endurance . Leather and the structure layer does add some slight weight. However that trade-off is made to give the garment a head turning presentation and a long life of performance.
One of the key mantras of my brand is lowering the level of waste in creating beautiful fashion. The fabric used here is from a retired print no longer produced by the original mill. It's use in my Fortuna travel bags and Fortuna outerwear is limited because only a small number of yards were available before it was discontinued. Big fashion discourages use of discontinued patterns, but I feel that just contributes to the waste we see in fashion. My customers love the fact that this particular print is not longer available. My use of it in a unique accessory or garment , assures them that it will stand out that much more. That is the biggest appeal of a limited edition item. This is just one of the ways that small designers like me, fold sustainable practices into our day to day operations.
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Enter now for chance to win a $200 gift card to Downtown’s newest handmade leather goods store, Town & Shore Handcrafted. Two lucky winners showing their best #shopsmall selfies will be announced on Christmas Eve! Take a selfie at our newest art mural located in the 500 block of Market Street on the side of The Saville and use #shopsmallwilmde and #Ilovedowntownwilmde plus tag and follow @DowntownWilmDE and @tshoregal
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Get a sneak peak inside the Town and Shore Handcrafted Showroom. The grand-opening ribbon cutting will be on Thursday, December 9th at 1:00 PM.
]]>I sincerely hope this post finds you in good health and good spirits! What a past year (or two) it has been! I believe it was Ghandi who said, “adversity is the mother of progress” and I have found that to be so true.
It has been 20 months since I’ve issued a newsletter post. Like many of you I have struggled over that period to balance the many impacts of the Covid Pandemic and the needs of family, home, business, and self. I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to my subscribers, customers, and followers for your supportive emails and pings over this trying period. What a wonderful community you are!
I’ve been doing more than just nesting at home these past 20 months! (Well, some nesting may have been done …. comfort food and wine may have been present… but that is a story for another day). After the freight train of cancellations in early 2020, I decided to move Town & Shore Handcrafted into a new phase. By October of 2020 I secured a lease and began the journey of moving my studio to a new commercial space in Wilmington Delaware.
Combining both a retail showroom and design/production studio, this new location allows me to house the full circle of operations in one place. I have had many adventures this past year trying to finish this project. Some tough lessons were learned along the way, such as a six-month timeline being way to aggressive. Contractor shortages, sudden price increases, building supply cancellations and months long delivery delays. To say I’m ready for a vacation would be an understatement. After a year of bobbing and weaving, I have finally settled into the location.
The Town & Shore Handcrafted brand is now both online (TownShoreStudio.com) and has a flagship store at 221 N Market Street Wilmington Delaware 19801. My studio is located behind the storefront at 221 N Shipley Street. Moving to this new location in the 2nd & Loma district (shorthand for Second Street and Lower Market) gave me an opportunity to fulfill several longtime business goals that I will write about over future blog post. The neighborhood is in a great location, just two blocks away from the train, bus, and transit stations. Wilmington’s Market Street has some great indie-businesses that you don’t see anywhere else, everything from art galleries, craft-beer breweries, fun little bistros, and coffee shops. New unique Apartment buildings such as The Cooper by BPG have also added to the architectural landscape, creating an interesting mix of new and old that somehow works with the restored Victorian era building fronts at the 2nd & LoMa complex.
Duality is an element that I blend into many of my designs, and I sought to do the same in my store design. At just over 500 square feet, Town & Shore Handcrafted is meant to give the feel of a jewel-box full of chic style, color and craftmanship. A shop that welcomes you with the fragrance of lavender, linen, and leather; beautiful merchandise; soothing music and great lighting. Street windows with colorful merchandise beckon you to a showroom that reflects the inspiration for my current season. The theme carries across shelving and racks as you browse one-of-a-kind pieces and my regular collection. A relaxing escape from the noise of the city with the intimacy of boutique shopping. A place where you can see what ethically made, artisan made, Wilmington made slow fashion really looks like.
I want to give an exuberant ‘Thank You’ to Delaware Today Magazine and its readers. It is truly an honor to be voted Best of Delaware: Local Designer. Delaware has such a wealth of creatives, artist, and supporters. I am so proud to be able as a small business owner to be a part of ‘Designed and Made in Wilmington Delaware’. The ability to sell products where they are conceived and made, is part of what ‘slow fashion’ is all about. I want to also thank 2nd & LoMa and Debbie Schwartz for having the vision to accept an unusual business such as mine into the creative family on Market Street. I am so excited to bring wonderful leather accessories and unique apparel to the City of Wilmington. I hope Town & Shore Handcrafted will serve as a destination for discerning shoppers for many years to come. Thank you, wonderful, beautiful Delaware!
Please keep eye out for our newsletter for news of the opening of the Town & Shore Handcrafted flagship store. I have been working through the Covid-19 pandemic and all of 2021 to finally take a big step towards opening a brick & mortar location. This will give our customers the convenience to shop online or visit the shop to browse my newest creations and concepts behind the collections.
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Though it is good to get our kiddo's out and about in the sunshine, as often as possible, it can be really tough on bad weather days. I wanted to pass on a fun exercise that I've done with my eight year old daughter on rainy days. This recipe was shared with me by a wonderful Speech Therapist from Red Clay School District in Delaware, Ms. Bethany Nieves.
This activity does not require any cooking and makes for very easy cleanup. It may require a trip to the grocery store (or order delivery if you have to). I hope if gives you and your youngsters a tasty break from the regular grind.
Don't be embarrassed to make these for yourself, as a quick movie treat....It's ok. We have all been guilty of watching those adorable animated kids movies when alone... My favorite is Over The Hedge....so your secret is safe with me.
If you like this post, share it with a friend. Better yet get email alerts long before social media by signing up for our newsletter below.
]]>Hello everyone. I hope you and your families are staying strong in these challenging times. I want to announce the addition of face masks to our product line. These handcrafted masks are made in a limited quantity from fabrics I have used in past collections and materials from the current season. Once a design sells out the print will be done.
Other than medical scrubs, surgery-room-blue doesn't seem to go well with most things. Its wonderful how style can find its way into everything. A vibrant color or whimsical print can be a great reflection of your mood from day to day. So purchase our masks today and add a little flair to your daily work and outings.
Below I have listed the funds we will be donating to. Please check them out. If you have the ability, please support them where you can. Every effort counts.
Unfortunately we cannot take corporate orders, since we do not have the production capacity to make thousands of masks. I am very proud of those designers and brands that have offered agencies and hospitals the benefit of their factories. Hat's off to you guys!
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She was right of course. She told me that at a time when I was burning the candle at both ends, scaling the corporate ladder of a different industry. We must remember to take a breath and map out a plan to the next dream. We also owe that to our customers as artists and business owners. As we make our way out of this health catastrophe, we must remember to create something to be there on the other side of it. I hope all my fellow artisans, designers, and business owners remember that. If you can make it to the other side of this crises intact, make sure you have something for the world to dream of. I am not a fan of the over auspicious message of uber-luxury and it’s trappings (a luxury mega-yacht is of little value when you are gasping for breath on a respirator) , however I feel there will always be a place for every customer and their desires. The market will always cater to those desires and create around them.
I continue to focus on the lifestyles of my key customers and the dreams I know they will continue to have after we get through this crisis. The crazy, high speed pace of fashion has long been a flagrant pain point for many a designer and business owner. Nowhere is it more obvious than in the growing number of fashion lines and the rapid decrease in design, quality, stability of collections. Many say these things are no longer important to you, the customer. They are wrong. The speed of big fashion has commoditized creativity and forced quality to the underground. The customer has forgotten what to expect or demand.
Now that the world has come to a pause…perhaps it will give designers at big brands a little more time to explore their dreams. To really have the time to think out what they want from their mood boards, designs and final product. I get extremely excited to think of what other designers will do with the extra time. I am taking the time from cancelled trunk shows to focus on what I want to see in my products for the next year. It is giving me a little more time to refine techniques, think through materials, and create new visions for my customers to immerse in.
To do that without the ever-berating stick of “the next fashion season” is a breath of fresh air. Even as an indie-brand with in-house production, I still feel the pressure of the constant trend-change the industry tries to force on everyone. It takes an extreme amount of resistant to push myself to create lasting designs and to focus on quality.
How often we forget the subtle words of mother and mother nature… they both have their way of telling us…SLOW DOWN AND BREATH. How many of us will listen?
Hope you have a happy Mother's Day and may Summer bring better times.
]]>In creating Town & Shore Handcrafted my goal has always been to design for the contemporary woman whose life extends from city to seashore. However, my business goal is to create a small, nimble fashion goods business that focuses production around quality craftsmanship, small volume and low waste. The last of which requires lean manufacturing. This requires constant thought around using every inch of leather and material to produce as little final waste as possible. I grew up in a family that maintained a small farm, preventing waste was ingrained in my family’s culture. I have wrapped it into the culture of how my company produces: small manufacturing and production driven by demand. Each product is made in a limited-edition run. I don't overproduce. It eliminates the need to discount inventory. This practice also benefits our customer. How? By not over-producing, I avoid being forced to constantly discount to move product. It honors the customer because the value of their investment is sustained.
From leather to fabric, we use these raw materials for the main products and keep the remnants. Those remnants are then reviewed and used in designs that require smaller amounts of material. This is repeated, sometimes inspiring the design of new items, until those raw materials are reduced to scrap. Scrap is the remaining raw material that can’t be reliably used in the production of any other finished products. The choice we make is to stay as lean as possible and recycle. This can be part of the DNA of any brand. It does not have to be an afterthought that results from some embarrassing media exposure.
Big fashion journalism and industry often ignore the following fact. Many small independent brands, that keep all of their production in-house, make sustainability a constant daily choice. I make this choice in how my company produces, not just as “a feel good.” It is a necessity. We must stay small, agile and creative to continually support a unique, small group of customers. The customers I speak of actively seeks out slow-fashion, independent designers and makers. Why? These customers want goods that are given the same undivided attention to quality for each item. Designs that are not only functional, beautiful and durable but are limited. They want an item that they won’t see on five other people they pass on the street. They understand that slow fashion goods are more expensive to produce and bring to market. They know that these types of brands are rarely going to be in department stores due to their small production.
Let us hope, that out of this global slowdown, we will see fast-fashion and massive conglomerates start to consider their approach to waste. They serve a specific customer base, and that customer deserves better. Thinking about how they can blend lean methodologies into their design, production even presentation. All steps toward reducing waste are part of the broader effort to create more sustainability in fashion.
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We are cheering for those of you out there, fighting the good fight on the front lines of this virus. Friends, family and strangers... from health care to the civil and food services professionals we depend on. We appreciate you and hope you stay safe and well. You are in our thoughts daily.
If you are sheltering-at-home, have streamed your fill of Netflix or you need a diversion from Zoom meetings, fashion can be a wonderful get away. On the other side of this virus, each one of us will need to get back to work. That includes the work of living, loving, playing, growing and learning. My newsletter, The Elegant Accessory... this month and the next few...will focus on style, color and materials. No travel or event listings, because we should all stay in…be safe, be patient and be kind.
So take a closer look at some of my products and thoughts on style. I hope it is a nice diversion with some ideas to tuck away. For when we all get to go back out…and be our beautiful social selves again.
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I have been a member of the magazine's producer, HAC sports club for years. Hockessin Athletic Club is one of the great local business that brings together the community it resides in. I love the great services and facilities they provide for women, children and families.
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I have heard many comments at pop-ups and trunk shows expressing interest in seeing how I make some of my leather goods. It is difficult to try to record video and work at the same time, but I have tried to compile some of the in-studio shots and footage about the process. I am a designer and leather craftswoman, not a professional videographer, so I apologize in advance for some of the angles or resolution. As a small shop we do not have the resources to make the polished marketing videos as seen with say Hermès or Louis Vuitton. You can be assured however, that what you see is the heart and soul of an artisan at work, minus the polish of a global conglomerate.
View the finished 3D Cherry Blossom Pouch in our store.
]]>May you and yours have a wonderful, healthy, happy, prosperous...new year and new decade.
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We are quickly moving to travel season for holiday and escape. I have been working hard to get the first drop of my 2020 Collection ready for view and pre-sale. I will be posting updates of the work I am doing in the studio. Over the coming weeks will see some of the items ‘in the making’.
Part 1 of Rehoboth Beach Delaware Review
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Me and my family recently had a much needed vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and I wanted to feature this hometown beach in my newsletter. We were lucky to stay at one of Delaware’s favorite hotels, The Bellmoor Inn which has a history dating back to the late 1930's. If you are ever looking to plan a vacation to Delaware beaches this review will have some great tips for you. I'd love you hear your comments, especially if you are a fan of the area.
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Here is to a happy holiday! Cheers to all my fellow designers and makers showing that 'Made in America' is still alive and well.
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March is here and I am can finally focus on pastel colors for a new crop of products. So often we only see the pastels of traditional Easter celebrations.
I will be adding pastels with deep tones this season. Above is a collage of materials that I will be playing with this season. The mix of coral, sunshine and dark leather tones is a great way to celebrate Pantone’s color of the year.
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