I'm so excited to be announcing this new series! Every month I'll be 'crashing' a home, shop, or studio and sharing the awesomeness with you. This first Crash! I happened upon by accident. Hubby and I were pooped from trying to move a couch into Frankie (and movers we are NOT) and were ravenous for a late lunch. After parking and making a beeline for a Diner, we passed a shop that made my head turn. Food? Who needs food, I see pretty things.
Seed to Stem is hard to describe (even by the owners Virginia and Candace). Here's my assessment- if a posh botanical shop fell in love with a quirky antique shop, had an affair with a taxidermist and then a love child was born out of this little love triangle, you'd get Seed to Stem. Confused yet? It'll all make sense when you check this place out!
It was so nice of these lovely ladies to let my camera and me invade their shop and ask them a few questions!
When did you first open the shop?
"We started Seed to Stem about 3 years ago, and were just setting up booths at craft shows, selling terrariums or other nature-inspired art we had put together. Soon after, we decided we wanted to have some type of a brick and mortar store, and rented a small room in an antique mall, The cider mill, in Sterling Mass. We stayed there about 6 months, quickly outgrew the space, and found our new home on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester."
What inspired you to start your own business?
"We were inspired to start our own business because we truly love nature, design, art, creativity, style..... and we really like working for ourselves. We wanted to open a unique shop that can be an inspiration to people, and connect them with nature. We also love visual merchandising, and have a blast re-arranging the shop to present our products in a unique way."
How would you describe your shop's style?
"We sometimes have trouble describing our shop's style. We often call it a gift, curiosity, and botanical shop. Our clients have called the shop "like walking into Narnia", "a perfect juxtaposition between life and death", a "natural wonder shop" etc. etc. Our shops style is a mix of old and new, of times gone past...antiques, skulls etc., mixed with living plants, modern hand blown glass, and more stylish home accents, with a nod to the Victorian era. We also do fresh floral design and staging for weddings and events. Most couples that choose us love our style and want it reflected in the design."
What has been your biggest challenge in regards to the business? "Our biggest challenge in regards to the business is keeping up with non-creative tasks.... bookkeeping, banking, e-mails, cleaning etc. ....all while creating the botanical pieces in the shop, re-doing displays, and doing large scale weddings and events. We feel like for most creative people, the more structured parts of running a business can be quite challenging."
On behalf of other creatives- I agree! It's so tough to focus on boring numbers when you have shiny and pretty things to distract!
His name is Rufus and he is not for sale. Came you blame them- look at that face! Bear hug anyone?
And speaking of adorable faces- meet their shop puppy, Poe. The little sweetheart has the most piercing blue eyes and almost converted this crazy cat lady into a dog person.
Even if you look away from the curated vignettes and look down to the floor, you won't be lacking for eye candy- those rugs!
Thanks Seed to Stem and Virginia and Candace for letting me share your shop's story!