Meet the Designer
Hello…I’m so glad you are here.
I’ve always been drawn to craftsmanship, especially in our homes. Growing up on a dairy farm in Massachusetts instilled in me a deep appreciation for hand-made objects which are made from the land and carry a strong sense of place. As a result, I opened Heyday in downtown Bozeman Montana, where I curated collections of home goods predominantly made by American artisans for 12 years.
As I grew Heyday’s inventory, I became increasingly curious about how these products were made, and discovered that the production was typically outsourced overseas. Over the years, I’ve been struck by the disjointed nature of supply chains in the home goods industry—especially within the fiber sector. Despite being one of the top wool-producing states, Montana lacks a strong regional market to support its wool industry. My next chapter is shaped by this shortfall.
The foundations of Bellwether rest on the use of regional raw fiber to contribute to a resilient, localized supply chain for handwoven textiles here in the Rocky Mountain West.
In setting the stage for Bellwether, I earned a master’s degree in textile design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, with this project as my focus. I have spent countless hours researching the state of the textile industry in the United States - making phone calls, touring textile mills large and small, and asking every question I could think of to better understand the process. Through this work, I’ve uncovered both challenges and opportunities in the transition from industrial-scale manufacturing to small-scale, sustainable textile practices. The artisan sector presents a promising path forward—one where small flocks, micro mills, and local communities drive demand for goods that are both sustainable and beautifully crafted.
In today’s world, where handmade textiles are rare, I strive to inspire us to consider a meaningful connection to craftsmanship within our homes. My work is a counterbalance to mass production, celebrating the nuances of hand making, and exploring the interplay of raw materials in cloth to echo the natural world’s texture and richness.
I hope to rekindle an appreciation for the simple, the natural, and the tactile, allowing us to experience the world’s textures and hues in our everyday lives without added synthetics.
I am excited to share the fruits of this labor with you.
My Studio
01
Each project begins with a texture or a pattern I have noticed in the natural and manmade world around me.
These patterns are snapshots in time brought to being by shifting sunlight or a breezy afternoon or pebbles washed in with rain. They are temporal and it is this that makes these moments magical and worth capturing.
02
The creative process presents and highlights so many of humanity’s everyday challenges:
how does an abstraction develop into material form, how can we sit with the anxiety of not knowing the outcome, how can we adjust with new information along the way, how do we evaluate our creative process
I have become more accustomed to the time and patience it takes to map out a project.
03
Gratefully, I move on to dress the loom. I get closer to the material and can feel its sensual properties. That time is filled with the emotion of possibility and the excitement of what is to come. I start at the loom with a plan and then I explore and test. Strands of thread are removed and replaced as I evaluate. The weaving develops with each clatter and beat and the work comes to life.
04
At each interval there are opportunities to examine the work and yet, the loom provides an inherent ambiguity as I am only able to see 12” at a time. I sense that I step daringly into the unknown when I create and a trust and awareness of the mysteries of life itself materializes.
05
The creative act disturbs our deep desire for clear pathways. I am susceptible to the eternal hunt for a better and more fool proof way to plan, test, and conceptualize my ideas before I get to work. I wish to know the answer before I begin. But my innermost self knows that trusting this mystery IS the process and the intention. It is why I am drawn to make.
