(VIDEO!) – A private tour of our brand new art studio!

Happy Tuesdy beautiful!

I’ve been sooo looking forward to today’s post!

Unless you’re a new VeruDesigns friend subscriber, you may recall that almost 11 months ago we moved our headquarters from center city Philadelphia to Williamsport, PA (3 hours north-west from Philly).

WHY? (you may ask?).

The reason has a name: The Pajama Factory.

The Pajama Factory is a beautiful old and very (very!) large factory building, owned by a New York City Architect, who purchased it with the vision of creating an Artists and Entrepreneurs complex of studios, lofts and creative spaces. The factory has attracted a wide range of artists. From painters, to sculptors, to photographers, soap makers, dancers, yoga instructors, visual artists, jewelry designers, furniture designers, technology startups and more! It houses an incredible clay studio (regular clay), a huge (and fully equipped!) wood-shop, a sewing studio and its own community coffee shop called “Way Cool Beans“. As a result it’s become the home of a close community of creative people working together and expanding everyone’s horizons.

Unfortunately I ended-up traveling most of last year (2015), so I never had a chance to give you a tour of our new jewelry studio. That is, until today of course 🙂

I invite you to relax, and enjoy this first ever private VIDEO and PICTURES tour of our creative space!

If you’ve been a subscriber for a while, then you probably saw our Philadelphia studio tour from a little over a year ago (for reference, click here!). Since most of my furniture is the same, I won’t be walking you through all the details that make it such a heaven of love and creativity for me.

BUT!! I will share with you some of the newer and very special little corners that make me love this place so very much 🙂

CORNER # 1:

When it comes to what I call the “business corner” (the place where all the business planning, marketing, accounting and research happens), my absolute favorite piece is my brand new office desk.

I love it not just because it’s the most beautiful table I’ve ever owned, but because it was made by my husband.

Here is what is so special: He had never worked with wood and steal before, but because of the woodshop in the building he decided to not only try, but create something very special.

The table top is a recovered piece of a bowling alley runway floor. Cliff (my husband) spend months restoring it, finishing it and getting it to look amazing. The base of the table (which you can’t see in the picture) is a heavy steal base that was originally used when this building functioned as a Pajama Factory in the early 1900’s.

Yep. I love it 🙂

Just like in my Philadelphia jewelry studio, my desk is filled with details that make me feel inspired every morning. From affirmations, to reminders, and of course my favorite photo with my angel brother, Chris, who is always with me.

CORNER # 2:

The BIGGEST upgrade, has been having a dedicated/separate large desk/table that is specifically for designing and making jewelry. And second, the HUGE amounts of light I get every day no matter the season. Natural lighting is not only wonderful for my mood, but it enables me to work with colors creatively.

What you don’t see in the picture: I have an AMAZING view of the mountains!

With more space than before, my tools and materials have been able to stretch out quite a bit. I love having everything handy and organized.

Despite all the new fancy tools that come out in the market, I must admit that I still work in 90% of the cases with my razor blade alone. It’s my secret sauce 🙂

CORNER # 3:

I have wall space now!!!

I adore my huge white brick wall, and the space it creates for adding touches of inspiration. It’s also my favorite backdrop for photo-shoots.

My two favorite inspiration items are the painting you see below and my “love tree“.

The painting itself is nothing special, but it’s a daily reminder of the power of perseverance. You see, before I discovered jewelry making, I had been looking for, and exploring different means of artistic expression, with the hope of filling this desire to make beautiful things. This is the last painting I made before discovering PVC clay (and later founding VeruDesigns).

No. I’m not a painter anymore, but I’m grateful for this period of time. It was the stepping stone that allowed me to find this passion and business!

My “love Tree” is what used to be my “wall of love” in my Philadelphia studio. It’s a tree with photos of moments and people I love. I adore looking at them many times a day. It makes me feel close to them, especially when I’m missing them more than usual.

CORNER # 4:

I’ve got a proper jewelry display area!!

How about that?! I’ve noticed that artists tend to be very hard on themselves and sometimes even under-appreciate their creations. I’m a firm believer that our fans, clients and customers will only love our work as much as we do. So yes, I’m a fan of what is being created in this space and I enjoy looking at our jewelry for inspiration and pure joy.

By the way, we still have our Philadelphia home and also our office and jewelry studio. But it’s looking like we will be extending our sty in this very special place for another year.

I look forward to sharing more about this creative heaven, including some of the AMAZING artists that I’m lucky to call my neighbors!

What do you think? Did you enjoy anything in particular?

I would LOVE to read your thoughts/comments/questions in the comment section below.

Stay well, stay happy and stay healthy. See you in two weeks !!

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