OOAK Vancouver 2011

First off- THANK YOU to those of you who came and visited me at the One of a Kind Show Vancouver this year! I appreciate the support I've felt locally this year and am so grateful for how many people came by to visit my booth and purchase my pottery this year! Once again I'm ending the year with a pretty bare studio and the last bit of work that I do have will end up at the Gallery of BC Ceramics on Granville Island (so if you're in a pinch head over there) and there will probably be a bit to put online but not to arrive in time for Christmas. 

I'd also like to send out a big thank you to my good friend Kat who has been helping me out in the studio and at my shows on and off this fall! Kat comes from a fashion design and retail background and was able to help me pack and ship out the large Anthropologie order this fall.  She's oh so stylish around the studio and has a great laugh too.  Love her!

Otherwise it was amazing to meet some really talented people at the show.  I came home with some amazing work- a little art, some amazing jewelry from here and here, a great jacket and shirt while I coveted this jacket (so want it..)!  And of course, some pottery by the lovely April Gates!

OOAK Johanna Brierley's Lucky Stones

Ok so I'm not too much of a jewelry person.  To me, simple and minimal is where it's at, and considering I only got my ears pierced on my 30th birthday, my personal collection of earrings is, well, minimal at best.  Every year though I seem to find something that suits my look, something made by a real person, an actual jeweler that I've met personally, and that piece becomes so much more than just another pair of pretty earrings.
I'm really glad I was able to meet Johanna Brierley at the One of a Kind Show.  She's from the Peg, where I spent 15 years of my life, so I immediately felt that we had something to connect over.  Man, did she ever feel familiar somehow.  What I loved best about Johanna's jewelry was her 'Lucky Stone' series.  Found on the beaches of Gimli, Manitoba (where my family spent our summers...) these little pebbles with natural holes in them are found by Johanna, made into a mold, and then cast into silver.  No one really knows how the holes on the rocks have formed or why there happens to be so many in this particular spot, but the locals have been calling them 'Lucky Stones' for a long time.  Well, needless to say, I felt pretty lucky to have a new pair of Lucky Stone earrings for the season!