With the arrival of the holiday season, we all seem to want to nest a little more tightly—creating spaces that nurture and fill them with the people and things that bring us joy. That often means returning to the traditional and the familiar, but it can also mean starting new traditions, like gifting locally-made works from true artisans and makers. Here are a few of our favorites for the season.
Meet the Makers
Photography by Mary Fehr
House of Hallmark Lampshades
Kelly Dorough // IG: @houseofhallmark
Armed with a cache of her favorite fabrics, Kelly Dorough set out to make a big impact with her line of custom lampshades. Like many with a penchant for great design, she was drawn to the very high-end versions of lampshades but needed them to be a bit more budget-friendly. “I’ve always loved thrift store and antique shopping,” says Kelly. “I can look at a great lamp base and know I could create a better shade than the one it has.” She started by purchasing the shades for the frameworks they offered, and then she taught herself to make the shades she wanted.
“I’ve always been drawn to lamps and lighting. They can make such an impact in a space. My goal is to create shades for clients who want to make their house a home.”
— Kelly Dorough
An Auburn apparel merchandising and design graduate, Kelly says she is largely self-taught via YouTube videos and has always loved collecting fabric. When she and her family moved from Homewood to Cullman a year ago, she started House of Hallmark, producing custom shades and pillows for clients. “I love working with decorators and designers who know exactly what shape and fabric they are looking for,” Kelly says. “I’ve had clients DM me their ideas and then mail me their fabric to create exactly what they want. It brings me so much joy when I can pull that off.”
Follow Kelly on Instagram to find her at her next pop-up, or reach out directly IG @HouseofHallmark
E. Maison Art
Dan Carlisle // IG: @e.maison.art
The grain of a piece of wood serves as a siren call to Dan Carlisle, telling the artist what it wishes to become. Some felled stumps become side tables or lamps. Others are coaxed into beautiful sculptures with undulating curves.
While most of Dan’s days are spent hand-pruning and tree removal (a boon to keeping his wood supply at its fullest), he has been channeling his creative spirit into something more since 2019. “During a trip to 30-A, I came across the work of artist Chad Awalt,” Dan says. “I was taken in by the lines and what he was able to achieve with wood.” A seed was planted—one that would settle into the meditative grooves of his mind until it flourished.
“This work feels more like meditation and therapy to me. I’ll put on a playlist, work with the wood, and just let my mind be moved.”
—Dan Carlisle
Dan grew up in a home surrounded by art and creative vibes. His father is noted landscape artist Ben Carlisle, and his uncle is celebrated interior designer Richard Tubb. In his day-to-day work, Dan often comes across cut samples with the whorls and patterns that whisper their potential. Back in his Irondale studio, he listens to the wood, working with and against the grain.
When asked how he knows a particular work is finished, he offers a warm smile and replies, “I have to step away from something I have been working on and let it rest a bit before coming back to it. At that moment, I might see the small details that were bothering me, but then I fall back in love with it and know it is ready.”
Dan’s work can be found at ALKMY in Crestline Village (shopalkmy.com) or directly through IG @e.maison.art
ALCO Baking
Geoff Luke // IG: @alcobaking
One look at these baguettes and loaves of sourdough, and you’re going to wish these photos were scratch-n-sniff. Geoff Luke of ALCO Baking knows this firsthand. What started as a passion project quickly morphed into a full-fledged foray into the world of baking.
After years in the business world, most recently with Shipt in operations and finance roles, Geoff left the corporate world to pursue his yen for baking, completely pivoting his work-from-home status from corporate executive to baker. These days, you’re more likely to find this husband and father feeding his sourdough starter, scoring baguettes, and loading loaves into his RackMaster RM2020 oven instead of thinking about spreadsheets and P&Ls.
“Making bread became a steadying force of consistency in my days, and it became a source of connection to the people around me.”
— Geoff Luke
His whole face lights up as he talks about the process: “There is this incredibly fascinating thing that happens with naturally-leavened bread—it is mysterious and elemental. You’re just putting together flour, water, salt, and yeast, but then it becomes alive and vibrant.” For a naturally curious soul like Geoff, he likens the bread-making process to pure alchemy, a notion he riffs on with the name of his company. “It’s the idea of alchemy—transforming something elemental and basic into something distinguished and special,” he says. “That’s a big part of where the name ALCO Baking came from.”
Geoff turns out specialty bread twice a week for pickup on the front porch of his Mountain Brook home. Visit IG @ALCObaking to sign up for an email alert to place your orders.
Soluna Bags
Sarah Okinedo // IG: @solunabags
Who among us does not recall the thrill of being in elementary school and having a new back-to-school pencil pouch? Sarah Okinedo certainly does. As a sixth-grade Teach for America instructor in the Birmingham City Schools system, Sarah wanted her students to have this same feeling and spent the better part of a semester crafting the pouches. She’d visit Hobby Lobby and select fabrics and coordinating trims that matched each child’s personality. By Christmas 2018, she’d crafted 28 bags, one for each child in her homeroom. “They all knew whose was whose because I’d chosen patterns that fit their personalities.” Pretty soon, she had other students, fellow teachers, and friends asking for bags of all shapes and sizes.
“I find so much creativity in nature. I have a lot of pictures in my camera of trees and leaves and grass. I go back to those again and again for inspiration.”
— Sarah Okinedo
She added stabilizers and interior linings and also upgraded the trim selections for each new round. By the time COVID hit, Sarah had honed her craft and was able to up her inventory with more time on her hands. From her home in Irondale, she is now turning out a variety of bags—bucket, snap, beauty, and box shapes—that can also be embroidered.
While Sarah is no longer in the classroom, she says that those students are still on her mind as she sews. After all, they were the reason for starting this business that brought so much joy.
To shop for bags or other items such as bandanas, wristlet straps, scrunchies, and lanyards, visit solunabags.com
