When I walked into Bespoke, a 'new shop with an old soul', in Truckee, California, I remembered the conversation that I’d had earlier with the artist Christine Wong Yap. She’d said that: ‘While I used to disdain materialism wholesale, I now think about how cherished objects can inspire sentiment and even personal growth, and am very interested in thinking more about things, what they say, and what they say about us.’
I’d been thinking along similar lines, how the environment we create, and the things – objects, images, and ephemera – that we choose to surround us can either enhance or even suppress how we define ourselves. How what we buy is an extension of how we want to be represented and the story that we’d like to narrate about our lives. We’re fluent in this idea of projecting a personality through material means in terms of fashion. But applied to objects and design, maybe not so much, or not so widely.
Heather River founded Bespoke, and we had a discussion around this idea of how consumer choices, particularly within the context of ‘slow goods’, can tell stories, define personality, and even inform local and global communities.
Community is important to Bespoke, and I wanted to ask how in practical terms this plays out.
Community is everything to us. We would not be able to have the shop we do if it were not for our local community, the community of artists we sell, and the growing global community of like minded people all supporting "slow" and handmade artisan products.
Each month we host a First Friday event where we showcase one of our artists, as well as offer demos featuring the skills used to create the products we sell. These demos range from silk-screening t-shirts, to teaching altitude appropriate planting of succulents, to music demos by our local Ukulele builders. All this enhances our local community.
On a global scale we are working with a non-profit micro financing company that serves African women with loans, trainings and education, in order to empower them to have their own businesses. This is important to me because I am reminded daily about how fortunate I am to be where I am today and have the resources and education to achieve my dreams.
How do you curate your products?
It is a constant search! In a few cases artists have found me, but more often I am pounding the pavement, Internet, and reaching out to friends. The shop is always evolving and I listen to the needs of my customers. I have a background in Fashion Design and I have taken the idea of a muse or a target consumer to my shop. Essentially if Bespoke were a person (and she is not me) you would be able to tell quite a bit about her by looking at the products we carry. This is why I carry a wide range of goods, from chocolate to jewelry, to teacups and teas.
Which three products would you pick out that have this 'design for living' idea in mind? You have such an eclectic and personal selection, but I really liked the plates with the quotes ("Out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing is a field. I'll meet you there."), the well-chosen selection of magazines and the found objects interwoven with local design work.
Kinfolk Magazine [a Portland based print, online and event based magazine that focuses on 'simple ways to spend time together' and serves as 'a blueprint for a balanced, intentional lifestyle]
Faribault Woolen Mills [their vision, 'Their are things woven into this blanket that could never be captured on a label.']
Tellason [raw denim jeans sewn in San Francisco]
You mentioned the idea of slow goods. Could you expand on that concept?
The idea of Slow Goods is similar to Slow Food. "Slow Food aims to be everything fast food is not (USA today)." It is all about the attention and intention that goes into creating something, the use of local materials and sustainable practices, and the direct contact with artist/maker and seller. Moreover, it is about the integrity of the product.
I was struck by the sensibility of Bespoke; it didn't feel like just a store. I’m curious about your particular approach to Bespoke and your background.
I have been creating my shop long before I had this current brick and mortar location. I have folders on my desktop called dream store with products and design ideas inside for as long as I can remember. I have always been an entrepreneur and Bespoke is the realization of a life long dream.
My general philosophy is to support artists in their dream by selling what they make. An overall concept of Bespoke is to sell products that are made where they are designed. This usually translates to individual artists hand crafting their products, but in a few cases, there are small companies with rich histories and impeccable ethics. Part of what makes Bespoke work is that each and every item that we sell has its own unique and interesting story and we love telling it.