Hello! I'm Katie. I love hand-made and vintage items. If someone gives me a gift, it means so much more to me if they made it or bought it from someone who made it. I strongly feel that mass-produced retail is getting WAY out of hand, for many reasons:
-They lack the warm, personal touches that handmade items have -They waste so many resources just to make the item available to you through a regular retailer... cost of manufacture, mass transport and the outrageous costs that it requires, manpower to stock items in the sea of other items offered -There are thousands of other people who have an exact duplicate of your item... it's definitely not one-of-a-kind -Larger corporations are able to bully the market, making retail an ugly game for the little guy -No personality... no face or name to attach to your item... Although your item has travelled a long way to get to you,sometimes your item hasn't even touched human hands until your own, because it was cranked out and assembled on a machine -If you purchase something from a corporate retailer, it doesn't mean a whole lot to them, because millions of others are purchasing from them as well. If you purchase directly from an artisan or craftsman, they are THRILLED to have your business, because that means someone appreciates what is coming from inside them.
Purchasing vintage items is also pretty important to me. When you buy a vintage item, you're purchasing something with history. Sometimes, it's older than you are! I love to imagine the girl who first wore my favorite vintage formal gown with such pride... What did she wear it to? Who was her date? Was the event one that gave her butterflies in her stomach? What was her personality like? Vintage items also support a more responsible way of buying. Those items were manufactured or created long ago, and instead of ending up in a landfill like many things, they end up in your closet, on your wall, in your dish cabinet, ect. with a whole other life ahead of them. Also, no further manufacturing has to go into them... They're reused. This cuts back on a lot of what I mentioned in the bullet points.
I feel that children and adults alike have forgotten how beautiful it is to own hand-made items. Decades ago, children played with toys that were made by hand. Some of those toys are still around, and they're called antiques. Nowdays, kids are conditioned to covet whatever they see on a commercial, or what all of their friends have. Adults are no different (enter fashion magazines and tabloids, telling you exactly how you should dress, and exactly what pair of $2,000 designer shoes would go perfectly with that $900 dress they told you to get).
It warms my heart to know that now, hand-made items are taking the scene back. This type of retail is mutually beneficial.... artisans are creating special, one-of-a-kind items at the best quality they can achieve for buyers, and buyers in return are supporting individuals rather than a corporation.
This is what I would like to offer to you... accessories, housewares, and art that have a personal touch, high quality, and are one-of-a-kind, that you can hopefully pass down from generation to generation.
My wish list: -More photography equipment -Table Saw -Lathe -Pottery Wheel -Glass Blowing Accessories -Metal Working Accessories -Embroidery Machine
Some of the technologies we use are necessary for critical functions like security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and to make the site work correctly for browsing and transactions.
Always on
Personalized Advertising
To enable personalized advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. Those partners may have their own information they’ve collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won’t stop you from seeing Etsy ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.
Personalized advertising may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have a right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in our Privacy Policy., Help Center, and Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy.