One of the most asked questions is;..." so what's with the mushroom"? Why the mushroom? People love them, they enjoy looking at them and express joy over how enchanted they are by it all. I, always answer by telling them that mushrooms are fascinating and have deep symbolic meaning in our lives such as...
TRANSFORMATION
GOOD FORTUNE
FERTILITY
LONGEVITY
ENERGY
GOOD HEALTH
REBIRTH
PROSPERITY
ENLIGHTENMENT
Now that you know a bit about the symbolic poetry of the mushrooms, picture this; it is 2014 and I am sitting in my OBGYN's waiting room, 8 months pregnant, and my phone rings! “Congratulations you’ve won a trip to New York”.- After a few seconds I realized it wasn't the captain calling, I really did win a trip, for two, to NY City! Ok... so fast forward several months later (had to wait until the baby was older so we could fly the coop solo for a few days)...
The Gardner's are on-flight to Manhattan Island , NY, NY- USA- it is about 10 days before Christmas at this point and the city was just waiting for us to discover it and all its festive seasonings and decor.
I had booked a private photographer (JJ) to bring us around the Island - to the less tourist listed attractions and the more "where New Yorkers go"! She totally nailed it - we have amazing photographs from beautiful brownstone neighborhoods to urban fun underground subway images. As much as I was just walking on air that day - JJ also brought me to a place that took me by surprise, she had no way of knowing I loved handmade things, yet here we were at the entrance of the world famous: The Chelsea Market
The market was lovely - we enjoyed it so much - it was vibrant and full of artisans and local food vendors. I was already obsessed with ANTHROPOLOGIE before NY - but in a very serendipitous way there stood a storefront right in front of us at 75 9th Ave, New York, NY. We had to GO in!
A very memorable story short - as we shopped and adored all the lovely things - I then gazed upon the smallest velvet mushroom ornament with minimalist amounts of itty bitty rhinestones hand sewn on the caps. I kinda just had a moment with the mushroom - it was just so well made - it was soft, it was shiny, it was Christmas! I did not purchase it (regret? YES) but I think I left with more than just a new ornament for my home. I left with a seed, a seed that has grown into so many beautiful creations that I have made, listed and sold!
