Welcome back to out Meet the Makers series, where we introduce you to the folks in our area who are providing us with food, body care items and agricultural products. Today we'd like to make you more familiar with potting shed creations, ltd., located in Troy, ID. Check out the photos (courtesy of Ann and her husband Peter, owners and founders of potting shed creations) and our interview with Ann below.
When and how was potting shed creations started? We started in 1998 as the proverbial garage business. Our first big break was creating a seed collection for Smith&Hawkin. They were a beautiful garden supply company with stores and catalog based out of San Francisco. We renovated the old elementary school in Troy and have been located here for the past ten years.
What is your background and how does it translate to what potting shed is/does? My background is graphic design and illustration. My husband, Peter, has a background in psychology, English literature and photography. Everything we do here, however, is truly a group effort. We are surrounded by an amazing group of people who work together to design, build and sell our products here in the US and abroad. All of our products are handmade in Troy with the core belief that people make better products than machines.
Why do you do what you do/why are you so passionate about this business? We have been designing and making product for sixteen years with pretty much the same goal; to create genuine, straight forward, minimal design that distills through material, color, word, hand and function. Our passion is to stay true to that goal as we work on each new product.
How has the business grown since you first started it? Aside from a more diverse clientele, I think our designs have grown up over the years with the focus on our core passion becoming clearer. We know who we are better than when we started and we hope our customers can see that in our work.
Where do you source your seeds and other materials from? We are certified organic and buy direct now from growers abroad and in the US. Our holiday bulbs are grown for us in Israel, Holland and South America.
How do you develop new products? We are inspired by nature, reclaimed objects, gastronomy, modern culture and Japanese minimalism.
What's your best selling product? Best selling products change from spring to holiday and depending upon what type of store but I would say our most popular overall is one of our oldest, the garden-in-a-bag, available at the Co-op for $9.99.
Besides the Co-op, where can people find your products? We are fortunate to have a wide range of stores that our products seem to work well with. From art galleries, museums, gourmet food and book stores. Some of our favorites are Uncommon Goods in Brooklyn, the Museum of Modern Art and NPR in Washington DC. We also custom design for companies that want to expand their brand. Typically this is for special events and promotions or a seasonal product that they would like to carry.
The Co-op is also proud to carry scatter gardens for $12.99 and herb garden-in-a-pail for $24.99. To learn more about potting shed creations click here.