A few weeks ago, a customer shared her h.made piece in her Instagram stories. When I thanked her for sharing, she responded, “this is a true heirloom.” I kept going back and re-reading her kind comment and thinking a lot about why it was so important to me. It’s not that I undervalue my work, but I’ve never thought about how h.made pieces could become heirlooms to the families that purchase them. I’ve always known how important my family heirlooms are to me, and the more I thought about my customer’s thoughtful comment, I realized just how much collecting my family heirlooms have influenced the pieces and collections I create.
If I could somehow grant you access inside my head, you’d see that a large part of my mind is like an in-progress Pinterest board— tons of ideas, plans, and inspirations that I considered random thoughts and future plans for my business (and plans for our dream home, the ideal hairstyle, recipes I want to try, and how to wear those wide-leg linen pants I recently bought— just like my actual Pinterest boards). It wasn’t until a recent photo shoot of my work (see photo above) that I realized I had unknowingly created collections that complemented each other, just like the heirloom pieces I’ve collected. I starting pulling pieces from our kitchen cabinets that had been pieces from my family and realized I’m patterning my own work after the very pieces that were once my grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers (see photo below).
I love the idea of customers mixing and matching pieces from different h.made collections, as I now understand this is what I must have intended. It’s so humbling to think about those pieces being passed down to another generation someday. This realization has honestly made me want to work harder to put in the time and skill that will make h.made pieces deserving of the term “heirloom.” The places and family that are my home and story are the main inspiration for my work and my desire to make and share with that with you, so when my work becomes a part of your homes and families, it is more special to me than you can know.
Serving pieces I’ve collected from my great-grandmother (the floral bowls), my great aunt (the green bowl), and my grandmother (the yellow bowl).