"business plan"

As a new shop, I thought I'd muse a little on what it is we're all about here at Idyillium.

We like old things, and we LOVE handmade things.

All of our goods are hand-crafted by Mainers. They're friends of the family, friends of friends, future family, family friends' friends... that kind of thing. We know that's very trendy of us to be all "hand-crafted" and "local" and what not, but really it's about the fact that we know a lot of people who make stuff in their kitchens, barns, living rooms, and various ad-hoc "studios". We really like to encourage those people to keep enjoying their crafting, so we try to give a home to all the beautiful things they make. We also like to tell them that makes them artists, but they don't really think of themselves as such usually.


We like to use old antiques to finish off our displays, since we think the best thing to go with handmade stuff is OLD handmade stuff. We have a bit of a Laura Ingalls Wilder complex; thinking that days are best spent in old-fashioned aprons doing domestic activities with simple satisfaction and aesthetic abandon. Carefully selecting yarn to knit the new baby in the family a sweater, baking up blueberry scones from scratch in the morning, going out in the garden to gather whatever's ripe for dinner, feeding the chickens - that's what it's all about.

We have lots of ideas for our current (and future) shop endevors. Evening knitting gatherings, Wednesday spinner afternoons, custom sundress bar, holiday craft fairs, Halloween fashion shows... oh, if only there was more time in the day to plan it all. This summer is just the beginning of what we have in store!