Really Earnest, Super Sincere Thanksgiving-Style Reflections on Kismet’s First Anniversary
This season has me feeling very thankful. Not the catchiest opening line, I admit. (A bit like “Dear Diary, Today was a good day.” 💤) But it’s true! And I’m so topped up on turkey, stuffed with stuffing and distracted by a bustling house that it’ll have to do.
Personally, my family has officially entered a new chapter, the best result being that we now know we’ll be staying in Austin for the foreseeable. 🎉 It means we get to keep the home we love, the amazing school at which my daughter is thriving, and the treasured social and professional networks we’ve built. We ❤️Austin.
Professionally, I’m thankful for ONE FULL YEAR of Kismet Workshop! 🎉🥇🥂🎂🌟💃🏻👏 So many firsts and milestones have happened this first year…
- First pop-up market season, including Still Austin, CraftHER Market and EAST
- Adoption of Kismet Sandy, my silent business partner, to assist at said markets
- The continuing development and maturing of my product line with the introduction of pendants, the Earring of the Month Club, the Bridge Line, and the Stone Collection
- The creation of Austin Bolo by Kismet, a capsule collection of “bolos that give back”, and, related to that…
- First partnership with an organization I’m thrilled to give back to (Have you seen the Symphony Edition bolos?!)
- Growing my relationships within the small creative business community (I’m blown away - Austin is brimming with talented, uplifting, generous people)
The moment that brought everything full circle, though, was last weekend, the second weekend of the East Austin Studio Tour. Two years ago, I enjoyed EAST as an art lover. We walked Canopy and some small studios around our home, and I kept thinking “Gosh I’d love to be on the artist side some day.”
But at that point I didn’t have a vision of how to get there. I didn’t have a particular medium I favored, let alone a body of work. I even struggled to claim the identity of “artist”, despite life-long participation in a wide variety of creative endeavors.
So, standing there behind my tables, surrounded by new artist friends and having just excitedly shared my path to and process in glass with an interested stranger, I had a capital M *Moment*. I was here. An artist at EAST. With a medium, a perspective and a body of work.
I’m thankful for the serendipity.It all happened in 18 months. And I don’t mean for that to sound passive. I made it happen. I worked quite hard, actually. There was serendipity at play that led me to that first glass workshop, and I still don’t know *why* glass resonated with me like it did… but I sure did embrace the energy and RAN with it. Must’ve been kismet.
I’m thankful for the life I’ve lived up to this point that set me up for this chapter.
I’m thankful for the women I admire in the maker community that gave an hour of their time this past year to have coffee with a nervous jewelry-maker new to retail.
I’m thankful to the incredible glass studio I work out of and the community there that has welcomed me and my sometimes scrappy, always tedious projects.
Finally, I’m thankful for my biggest cheerleader and support, my husband. (And I forgive him for not reading my email newsletters. They can’t compete with The Economist. 🧐)
It has been a wild ride. It’s so gratifying to be here, in this moment in time, but I can’t wait to see what year two will bring! Thank you for sharing in my reflection and thanksgiving.
PS: My business and I share the same birthday SQUEEEEE! Birthday twinsies! #shamelessbirthdayplug