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What do custom clothespins, hand-rolled beeswax tapers and a tooth fairy pillow have in common?
They’re all a part of the modern maker movement, a collection of people who are quitting their 9-to-5s to start their own small businesses dedicated to doing it themselves and marketing their self-made products.
A pioneer of this growing movement, Etsy, the online marketplace for all things handmade, got its start in Brooklyn 11 years ago as a virtual crafts fair.
Now Etsy is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange with $274 million revenue made by its more than one million artisan sellers.
In a world of mass-produced merchandise, modern technology has made it easier than ever for a single individual to create and distribute items that are customizable and unique without having middlemen.
With so many people able to freely share ideas and spread inspiration, makers are forming communities of their own — like the folks in The Nutmeg Collective.
Launched in January 2014 by Kristen Skelton, the owner of Milo and Molly, a small Avon-based handmade fabric accessories business, The Nutmeg Collective is a community of Connecticut artisans offering support for local businesses and working together to bolster thoughtful consumerism and the growing modern handmade movement.
“Hand maker businesses are so small and are often overlooked when it comes to small business that we are helping each other find their way by sharing experience,” Skelton said.
The Nutmeg Collective has doubled in size from 35 members two years ago to 70 current businesses across the state.
“The modern handmade movement happening now is a revival of trade skills, some of which have been lost over time — sewing, cobbling, woodworking, pottery, soap making,” Skelton said.
Designer Dwellings
A visual stylist, housewares designer and a leader of The Nutmeg Collective, Alonda Baird-Juhasz said she launched Designer Dwellings in 2013 after leaving her job in corporate finance.
“I couldn’t ignore that I wanted to do something I had a little more passion in,” she said. “You go with the safe choice and somewhere along the line you have to do what makes you happy.”
Juhasz’s line of custom-painted bamboo utensils, cutting boards and chopsticks are hand dipped in colors like mint, coral and gold.
“I like to use a lot of color,” she said. “Designing housewares allows me to flex my creative muscle.”
Juhasz said she joined The Nutmeg Collective two years ago when it was based in the Hartford area and called Team Hartbeat.
“Now it’s about Connecticut, not just one specific region in Connecticut,” she said. “For us, it’s a matter of creating a foundation and a community for people who do creative entrepreneurship.”
Heritage Rows
Making a business out of bows was not something 33-year-old Kaitlin Rorick had ever thought about.
She grew up in Connecticut, went to Boston College and moved to Brooklyn, where she taught third grade.
On a whim, while pregnant with her first daughter, Rorick enrolled in a sewing class at La Casita Yarn Shop in Brooklyn.
“I was on one of my breaks from teaching and I took classes there and it sort of set me free,” she said.
Returning to Connecticut after the birth of her second child, Rorick said people would often stop and ask her about her daughter’s bows. And that got her thinking.
“I had really stopped sleeping all together at that point and thought, why not give it a try?” she said. “So I launched an Etsy shop in January of 2016 to sell my bows.”
Offering three sizes, the Grand Bow, the Classic Bow and the Petite Bow, Rorick said it takes between 15 and 20 minutes to complete one bow.
Working while her little ones slept, Rorick said she aimed to complete 15 to 20 bows each night during the holiday season.
Looking for ways to promote and market her line of children’s bows, Rorick said she just recently joined The Nutmeg Collective.
“The group has helped me to learn ins and outs of things like getting business insurance and the financial aspect. It’s the less creative but completely essential part — that’s where I’ve found these people who have been doing it have cut down the time you have to spend starting from scratch,” she said.
BBA bracelets
For Alyssa Antonucci, of Ansonia, beading began as just a hobby in college. She would bead because she liked to — because it filled the time between classes and weeknights. Because her roommates wanted them.
It grew into so much more.
But when Antonucci was a senior and her father was diagnosed with cancer, beading took on a new meaning.
“It was the only thing that would take me away and help me de-stress,” she said. “When he was at Smilow, I would just sit on the chair in his room and bead. He would always help me and give me advice and we would sit at the kitchen table, he would help me cut the tags.”
When her father lost his battle, it became a means to cope.
“After he died, my beading really snowballed. I started doing craft fairs and pushed to get into more shops and really put myself out there and connected with so many people that have had similar experience. Connecting with people on that human level, having that connection — we all need that,” Antonucci said.
Antonucci said she spends between 15 and 20 hours each week in production, working on social media marketing and meeting with local retailers.
“The biggest challenge for me is just juggling all of the aspects of running a small business,” she said. “Social media is so huge right now that it can be its own business. Working on the social aspects, updating your website, ordering supplies, make sure that they are in at the right time and definitely trying to prioritize is so key.”
The Nutmeg Collective has helped provide an outlet for makers who understand, who can give advice, Antonucci said.
“It’s awesome to have the advice of other makers — we all lift each other up and we are in it together we are all here to support each other,” she said.
Emma Lyn
Founded on an obsession of practicality and patterns, Emma Lyn Designs combines the functionality of a multi-use accessory with one-of-a-kind designs.
When she’s not teaching seventh grade, Emma Kozlowski, 25, spends nearly all of her free time at her Brother sewing machine handcrafting a unique line of clutches, wristlets, key fobs and lanyards, producing about 50 pieces each month.
Launching her business just over a year ago, Kozlowski, like many handmade shops, began on Etsy.
“I started on Etsy but I was limited. I wanted everyone to have custom options and have a hand in designing their own bag,” she said.
Building a user-friendly website, Kozlowski wanted to offer her customers a design-your-own concept where they are able to choose the patterns on the outside and inside of each bag.
“The business allows me to be creative,” she said. “It’s all about the patterns — they’re preppy, colorful, fun.”
Joining The Nutmeg Collective in 2016, Kozlowski said she wanted to network with other creative business people and other creative women throughout the state.
“It’s hard getting out of my Bethel bubble, but I’m trying to expand across the state,” she said.
The collective has helped with not only networking, but also with learning about social media, growing an audience and marketing herself.
“As a small business, it’s all about getting noticed, getting my product out there,” she said. “There are so many people who are trying to do what I’m doing, on Etsy making bags and accessories. It’s about trying to figure out how to stand out and get noticed.”
Oscar and Ollie
Oscar and Ollie, a Westport-based handmade paper goods and hand-painted wooden décor business, was launched six years ago by Amanda Corey when she decided to leave the fashion industry in pursuit of a longtime hobby: crafting
Not long after graduating from the University of North Carolina in 2001, Corey moved to Manhattan and took a full time job with that same designer where she would spend the next seven years pursuing her first love, fashion.
But after she got married in 2010, Corey decided she needed a break from the industry and wanted to pursue another passion — crafting paper and wooden home décor.
“I had always made greeting cards and some wooden items as a hobby and to give as personal gifts,” she said. “It was the right time in life to see if I could turn it into a business and decided after a few months to open my Etsy shop”
Working out of a little corner in her small Manhattan apartment, Amanda launched Oscar and Ollie in 2010.
Now living in Westport, Corey, 36, said she spends about 15 hours each week in production for Oscar and Ollie, crafting handheld polka dot mirrors, butterfly wall hooks and anchor picture frames.
“Running my small business as a one-woman show, with the exception of the mailman, my husband and Excel spreadsheet creator extraordinaire, is no easy feat,” she said.
Connecting with members of The Nutmeg Collective has helped balance life as a work-at-home mom, Corey said.
“It’s just amazing to be a part of a community of people who are all doing the same thing you are doing day in and day out. It’s encouragement, accountability, education all in one group,” she said. “The Nutmeg Collective is kind of like having a cheering squad out there sharing how awesome you are all over Connecticut.”