Do you know where you come from? Your family history? Your heritage? Do you know the stories behind the quilt on your grandmother's bed, the recipes baked every holiday and the tarnished ornaments that hang on your parents' Christmas tree?
We all have history. It makes us who we are. We inherited our looks and mannerisms from someone, whether we like them or not.
A few years ago, I realized how much I look like my mother and how much she looks like her mother. At that moment, I knew I had been given much more than my middle names (Laura, my great-great grandmother's first name, and Fay, my grandmother and mother's middle name). I had been given a history.
When I decided to start my own business, I knew I wanted to incorporate family into it. I chose the name Gerald & Joan -- my husband's grandfather's name and my grandma's name -- as a way to honor them and focus on the history that makes us who we are.
Gerald & Joan draws from the past when we create our products and experiences -- the colors, textures and love that went into every little thing. Those intricate, handcrafted details were so common when our grandparents were young, and we want to dust them off and make them relevant again. We find them to be timeless with just a hint of nostalgia and exactly the sort of treasures we want to share with our own grandchildren one day.
At Gerald & Joan, we preserve history through design.
Photos from top: My great-grandmother, Tina, wearing a look that is as timeless today as it was when this picture was taken. My grandma Joan on her high school graduation day.