Texas Monthly magazine, a publication which I'm guessing almost none of you reads, includes a little sidebar in each issue called "Things Acquired in the Making of this Issue." As a transplant to Massachusetts from Houston (from Michigan), I read Texas Monthly religiously for a little connection to home, and I'm taking that sidebar as a guide for meditating on things that have come into my life and my home this year through Quinstance.
All of the items in the picture above are things I've bought from the store: coasters from American Stonecraft and Gräf & Lantz; a bag from Stitch & Rivet; jewelry from Maggie Bokor and Rain City Forge and We Dream in Colour; a notepad from Rifle Paper Co.; my favorite Farmhouse Pottery mug; good-smelling stuff from Rinse and Library of Flowers; a little Matr Boomie box that I use as a pillbox; my husband's Misc. Goods T-shirt; and my daughter's mini creature from Mr. Sogs.
Now, at this point, you may be thinking, "OK, so this lady buys a lot of stuff. Great. Good for her!" That may be true, and I'm sorry if it seems that way. I'm certainly not trying to encourage acquisition for acquisition's sake. My point here is to demonstrate the power of a quinstance.
These items, for example, help me start my day. The shower bombs my family buys by the handful, because everyone in the house loves them. They make the bathroom smell really good, and they genuinely brighten everyone's mood. And the honeycomb crema is just for me. It's my little secret scent.
The jewelry is something I've gotten into really just since starting the store. I didn't wear nearly as much jewelry before I opened the store, but now that I have met the various designers we carry, I find myself wanting to wear their designs. It usually starts with the piece: I see it in the store and it speaks to me. Then on a given day, it'll just feel like it goes with an outfit or a mood. That's a quinstance: it feels like you when you put it on. And our jewelry designers have helped me find that within myself.
Some of what I've bought has been to beautify my home and make it more cozy. Our coasters are like that. Coasters are something of a necessity, but we've managed to find ones that are so beautiful that they feel more like an indulgence than a necessity. The American Stonecraft ones have become something of an addiction around the store. Every time we get more in, all of us on the staff pore over them and start calling dibs. And I've waxed poetic before about my Farmhouse Pottery mug.
Some of the items have been necessities, but their uniqueness still makes them quinstances. My bag and notepad and pillbox keep me organized, but they make me feel fashionable rather than boring in doing so.
And of course, not everything has been for me. I've bought quinstances for others. My children each have multiple Mr. Sogs Creatures and ask for more every time they're in the store. My husband received his T-shirt for his birthday before the store was even open. It makes me extremely happy that my family is a part of my store and that they love and respond to my makers and their goods as strongly as I do.
Ultimately, though, what each of these objects represents is a relationship with the makers behind them. I have a personal connection to each of these items in my life, but I also have a personal connection to the makers who made them. I can tell you where I met them (or heard of them) and how they came to be in our store. I can tell you why they do what they do and how important their work is to them. When you select something in our store, I hope that you make that same kind of connection — whether you're buying for yourself or someone else.