Etsy-Maker Feature: SoLoMarket

11/9/2016

It's time for another feature, and this is one I have been beyond excited to share with you. The look of the items created by Jessica Cortes of SoLoMarket is SO my style. So yes, I am fully #dbsobsessed. With the Holiday Gift Guide now up and running, how could I not start with these babies?! I don't know anyone who wouldn't LOVE seeing something from this shop, wrapped under the tree.

I am going to mix things up on this one and let you read Jessica's story first. Here is how she describes herself and her amazing business:

"I'm a creative Stay-at-Home-Mom to almost four little ones, who began missing the interior design world after having been an Interior Designer for the last 17 years (with a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design degree). I sometimes missed the projects and creative work so I decided to open a shop and sell the vintage things I love (note from DBS: Jessica is phasing out the vintage finds on her site at the moment, so look for great deals).

Then at the beginning of 2016, I decided I wanted to look at entering the handmade world of Etsy. Don't get me wrong, I was still enjoying the hunt for awesome vintage finds, but was starting to find my time limited for that due to my little ones...hard to get a good haul of furniture and decor items with three carseats taking up space in our minivan! ;) So my husband and I started brainstorming for cool ideas we could do, but some of the stuff we came up with was already being made and sold on Etsy and we didn't want to encroach on another individual's idea.

March approached fast and one day I noticed my traffic was through the roof. One of our vintage items had been featured on the coveted front page of Etsy!! This particular item was a vintage agate stone clock set on a very unique brass base. It was an item that had been sitting in my shop for over a year and now all of a sudden was extremely popular! We were floored and excited with all the activity and within a couple of hours, the vintage agate stone clock sold. That's when the emails started pouring in. Many folks were asking when we were going to restock the item and will we be making more. Being that was a vintage, one of a kind item, I had to let everyone know the news. That's when the light bulb went on!

As I have been blathering on about for some time, I have been working on a MAJOR redo of my home office. (It's getting there...) And one of my favorite parts about it is without a doubt this Agate clock! Not only is it so chic and perfect for the look I am going for, but I realized that it is really soothing and enjoyable to have an actual ticking clock on your desk. We don't often hear that anymore!

Stay in-the-know about SoLoMarket at @SoLo_Market on IG

Why don't we reproduce it ourselves and make it a more modern, contemporary version of the vintage one? So I spent the following 24 hours researching how to go about doing our own clocks and posted our exclusive Made to Order listing that evening. We received 6 orders within an hour! We got to creating and building our SoLo Agate Clocks and now we are official clock makers! I will say my favorite part is figuring out the best placement/position for the agate on the base and/or stand and deciding what looks best by using either roman numerals, dots, dashes and brass, white and/or black clock hands. The "design" of the clock takes me back to when I designed commercial interiors. It's seeing the end product come together that I love the most! Each SoLo Agate Stone Clock is made by us exclusively :)

In addition to the clocks, I started thinking what else could I do with agate since I LOVE the stone and all the colors it offers and thought what about a keychain or purse charm...I wanted it to be something inexpensive and unique and liked the idea of adding an accessory. So in the beginning of August I started making that product and brought 28 agate keychains home with us on our two week vacation to WI to visit my family. All my friends and family went crazy over them and I ended up selling all 28! At the same time, I had listed them in my shop and the orders started rolling in. They are a cute item to add to your keychain, handbag and/or diaper bag even. Just something stylish and with 9 colors and 3 styles of hardware to choose from, there is something for everyone :)

I love this SO much and I need it in so many colors. What a great way to bring some personality to an otherwise plain bag. I especially love it with the tan Mark and Graham bag with my initials. The black fringe CC Skye bag is a clearly perfect pal for some agate and gold as well!