Our raison d’être is to gather a community of makers and friends and to celebrate the stories behind their work. Every garment and object in our shop reflects the people who made it.  Every piece carries a history, a process, and a human connection worth discovering.

 

MEET THE MAKERS 

 

Featured Artist:
Fiber Artist-Robin Ryan

 

Abeline

 

Andrea Reynders  - Andrea Reynders 

Andrea Reynders has maintained a broad engagement with a range of fashion related endeavors in her varied roles as designer, educator, curator, consultant, and mentor. Andrea’s most current work features contemporary garments under the Andrea Reynders label. The modern designs are linear and sculptural while classic. Some of the designs integrate repurposing. Her designs reflect and define the space between body and garment, dreams and reality and the relationship between our private worlds and our lived expressions of being. Andrea is one of the founders of we are MATERIAL, a collective of clothing and accessory designers who are committed to a creative practice that redefines the intersection of artisanal tradition with contemporary silhouettes.

Auntie Oti

Barbosa

Chie Mihara 

Christina Delfaco 

cuddle + kind  

Cynthia Ashby

Degen

Diarte

Either/Or

Ernestine Fleming-Jones - EFJ Collections

Ernestine Fleming-Jones, a retired instrumental music educator, began sewing at the age of 14. Sewing and crafting became a lifelong interest. Throughout the years, Ernestine fine-tuned her sewing and design skills by attending many workshops, expos and classes throughout the city. Her greatest mentors include master tailor, Eric Styles and all of the fashion design professors at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in which she proudly completed and received a Fashion Design Certificate from SAIC.

Fleks

Grandmont Street

Henry Robinson 

Hi Love

Indie Pendant 

Anjali Raj is the designer and founder of Indie-Pendant.  Jewelry has been an everlasting love of hers from as far back as she can remember.  She did her Graduate Gemology through the Gemological Institute of America and decided to pursue the designing stream.  Her inspiration comes from her Mum and her husband, Ravi who convinced her to set up her design house of Indie-Pendant.  Anjali's beautiful pieces are now available in the shop.

Javier Varas

Joanna Kramer

Lapeyre

Liz Williams - The Checkroom

The Checkroom designer, Liz Williams creates “Classic Inspired Statement Coats for Modern Women.” Liz's early career was spent behind the sewing machine learning and perfecting her craft. During these years she became increasingly shocked by the poor-quality products created by fast fashion chains and the exploitation of sweatshop labor. Through The Checkroom, Liz hopes to aid in the re-building of Chicago's once strong manufacturing roots while revitalizing the American supply chain.

Made Here Chicago 

Cozy, at home wear that translates to street wear.  Nancy works with small local women's businesses for pattern making, sewing and selling.  For silks, she uses dyes from plants in her garden.  For this reason the label is MADE HERE.

Made In  

Michiko- Moyuru

Made to be centered as everyday statement pieces, Parron Allen's designs evoke a cohesive aesthetic of sophisticated whimsy and an attitude of resolute joy.

 

Parron Allen is the namesake clothing brand of Brooklyn-based designer Parron Edwards-Stimola, whose design vision is inspired by his childhood in Lexington, Mississippi. Parron's grandmother, Momma Ruth, expressed her love by sewing dresses for the women in her family. Momma Ruth made dresses as so many Black women did—with whatever materials were available—creating beauty from remnants long before sustainability and up-cycling began their march toward the mainstream. 

 

Parron’s designs echo this joyous harmony of whimsy and practicality in a voice for the present moment, reclaiming sustainability as a part of his cultural heritage and designing inventive collections that incorporate fabric remnants, discarded textiles, and thrifted garments. Prior to founding his brand in 2021, Parron studied design in the US and UK and honed his skills at Vera Wang, Ellen Tracy, and Rebecca Taylor.

 

Sara Sela

Serienumerica

SOS PJ’s 

This passion project started while on a girls trip to India for Dee De Martin and her friends 50th birthdays.  She works with a co-op that provides free French tailoring lessons and shelter to the homeless in India.  Once trained, they have the opportunity to stay and become employees or move on to other employment.  Dee Dee is a part of Chicago Fair Trade as she believes that everyone who touches their garments should be paid a proper wage and empowered to help others.

STAM

Steve Kagan 

Tatine 

 Margo Breznik, Founder + Creative Director of Tatine, launched her company in 2001 as a way to express her inspirations and impart her passion for creating interior atmospheres that inspire, deepen, and enhance your surroundings. Her designs and bespoke fragrance blends are an expression of what she is feeling, thinking, and inspired by at any given time. Drawing solely on music which, to Margo, is the highest of all art forms, she also culls inspiration from her travels, hoping to impart those small magic moments that traveling brings into our lives. She is also influenced by interior design and creating inspiring atmospheres where people immediately feel at ease, passing that special feeling on through Tatine's products. Inspiration can come from anywhere, be it haute couture, a runway show, a song lyric, a well designed menu, or a moment in time. Margo creates from a personal and emotional place. As Tatine celebrates 20 years, Margo continues to place meaning in the small details, slow design, hand craftsmanship, and imparting soul through each piece. Everything is created to impart wonder, a sense of quality, and the quiet but evocative message of the handmade.

The Endery 

The Little Project 

Tilly Doro

Untitled in Motion

Volta Atelier 

Fernanda Daudt and her team make up-cycled leather handbags that are hand-stitched by refugee women.  She gets her inspiration from having witnessed so much waste in the leather goods industry and working closely with an NGO that welcomes refugees.  All of which made her feel that she could do something to tackle both problems through fashion.  Fernanda is also influenced by her grandmothers, that were both into fashion and craftsmanship arts, and her mother, a Philosopher whose volunteer work would be making and mending clothing.  Their lessons on how to sew, knit, crochet and style were always fun and therapeutic to her.  Volta Atelier bags are designed in an array of coveted colors, styles and sizes. 

Workshop Apothecary 

Tanya Tucci is an Oncology Massage Therapist by day and a soap maker at night.  She started making soap in 2009 using Converse shoe boxes lined with wax paper as her form of making soap loaves.  Tanya became interested in making all natural products due to the severity that radiation and chemotherapy can cause on the skin.  She is known for her 1951 soap truck!  You can find her locally at street fairs and at our shop from time to time.