Meet the Neighbors: Second Story Rose

At the Aurora Shoe Company, we passionately support small business and handmade and local goods. As a visitor of our blog, we thought that you might feel the same way. In our Meet the Neighbors series we're featuring businesses and people who reflect our own values and whom we feel lucky to call neighbors and friends.

We live and work in a teensy little town, so every time something more interesting than a gas station opens we get excited (actually, we get pretty excited about those, too).  Second Story Rose has been around for years now, but it still feels new enough to be a bit of a hidden gem, even in this small town.  Owned and operated by a true Renaissance woman, Mnetha Warren, this shop is literally full of handmade jewelry, quirky gifts, and a huge assortment of vintage finds.  Visit them online or in person (above the old hardware store, on Main Street in Aurora). 

Thank you, Mnetha, for keeping Aurora interesting!

Classic Styling and our Chinese Style

One of our most versatile styles for women, the Chinese is based on a Chinese dance slipper.  Featuring a rounded toe, adjustable strap, and minimal stitching, this shoe is as stylish as it is comfortable.  When I'm heading out the door and want to look a little bit more put together, I slip these on knowing that I can do anything and go anywhere without giving my feet a second thought. 

These photos were taken on a beautiful day in April, just before spring had really sprung.  We love sharing photos of where we live and work, and this batch was taken about a mile down the road from our shop.  You can see a sliver of Cayuga Lake in the background along with one of the many vineyards that lines it.  Natural beauty and simple pleasures inspire our work and our classic designs,  There's nothing over the top or fancy, just the tried and true, made well, and with care. 

Meet the Neighbors: Abiding Branches

At the Aurora Shoe Company, we passionately support small business and handmade and local goods. As a visitor of our blog, we thought that you might feel the same way. In our Meet the Neighbors series we're featuring businesses and people who reflect our own values and whom we feel lucky to call neighbors and friends.

Visiting the shop of local artisan and furniture maker, Anto Parseghian was a real treat.  Located about 5 miles south of our shop, Anto has been creating furniture using responsible and sustainable methods in the classic Adirondack twig style since 1996.  He started by making furniture for his home, and as his work became more refined, he began showing and selling it.  When I met with Anto he told me about how his son has been working with him to create hybrid pieces, seamlessly combining metal fabrication with natural wood details.  He also shared that his wife plays a large role in each design, carefully cutting and placing the intricate details which can include twigs, bark, and even seeds.  The artistry is easy to see here, but the quality, which is hard to share in photos, is really what impressed me the most.  Lots of rustic furniture is made primarily for aesthetics, but these pieces are very sturdy, with gorgeous finishing details - a true marriage of form and function.

 Abiding Branches now has an online shop, full of beautiful and impeccably made original designs.  They accept custom orders and their gallery speaks for itself.

Thank you, Anto, for sharing your art.  Your craftsmanship and attention to detail are inspiring. 

Around the Shop, Lately

Our shop has been closed for the past couple of months while we've worked on expanding.  We're insulating and increasing our production space, and while our doors are closed, we're still here working away, making shoes and fulfilling our online orders.  Here are some shots from around the shop - great lighting thanks to our new sky lights!

Meet the Neighbors: Craftstitute

At the Aurora Shoe Company, we passionately support small business and handmade and local goods. As a visitor of our blog, we thought that you might feel the same way. In our Meet the Neighbors series we're featuring businesses and people who reflect our own values and whom we feel lucky to call neighbors and friends.

I walked into Craftstitute in Ithaca knowing that I'd like it.  The craft school, which opened its doors exactly one year ago, offers a huge range of classes and workshops, ranging from edible things like cheese and coffee, to slightly more obscure crafts like indigo fermentation and a meditative line drawing class, appropriately named Zentangle.  Of course, there's lots of sewing, knitting, dying and various other making in between.   It's the kind of place where people of all levels and abilities can come together to enjoy shared passions or to learn new ones.  Some of the workshops progress over multiple sessions, and others are in and out, with a piece of your own handiwork to walk out the door with. 

Craftstitute aims to bring people together to create community around creative pursuits, but also to work at re-building a sense of self-sufficiency that our culture has grown away from.  The sewing machines at Craftstitute are named after beloved grandmothers, a touch that seems quaint and sweet, but also ironic and empowering.  If grandma didn't have to rely on countries half way across the world to clothe or feed her, maybe we don't have to either.  

Robin, who calls herself one of the Co-Ringleaders showed me around during drop-in crafting time (which is free) and chatted while she worked on some knitting along with her own small business venture, MiMBY (short for Made in My Back Yard).  The bags are made from fabric that she often dyes or block prints herself, along with full grain leather straps made from our own scrap leather.  She offers classes, teaching people how to make these bags, and also offers them for sale on her Etsy site.  

Every sewing machine at Craftstitute is named after a beloved grandmother. 

 

Thank you, Robin, and everyone at Craftstitute, for recognizing the value of handcraft, and for bringing this fabulous school to our community!  

You can keep up with class and workshop offerings by following the link above and by joining the Craftstitute Facebook and Instagram pages.