Thursday, January 24, 2013

Artisan Profile - Andrea Kiernan - Lavender Beads

 

What happens when a glass blower obtains a job at an organic lavender farm...
Lavender Artisan Profile

Andrea Kiernan - Lavender BeadsAndrea Kiernan - Maker, Designer
"My name is Andrea Kiernan and I make each and every glass Lavender Bead. The miniature sculpted flowerheads are, for me, a way of preserving the fleeting excitement of the fields in full bloom so that they can be enjoyed as adornments year round.

Lavender Beads - What happens when a glass blower obtains job at organic lavender farm.

Lavender Jewelry made on San Juan IslandI started making Lavender Beads shortly after the my move from New York to San Juan Island. The island lies off the Northwest Coast of Washington State, part-way between Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC and is only accessible by ferry or small plane. I relocated here after art school to work in a glass production studio.   

The glass job didn't last and I ended up finding what I thought would be short term work at the local organic lavender farm (Pelindaba Lavender Farm). Fast forward 10 years later and I still work at the farm, designing value-added handcrafted lavender products. The 25,000 lavender plants that thrive there are annually blooming inspiration for my original lavender glass bead designs.
Lavender glass jewelry bead earrings
I create each one-of-a-kind glass lavender bead and assemble jewelry at my home studio (made from clay soil, straw, recycled glass bottles and other salvaged materials) at the end of a long dirt road, in the Pacific Northwest's rainforest-like woods where I live with my husband and our two young daughters. We keep chickens and honeybees and keep a garden with a ridiculous number of unusual lavender species."

View Andrea's Lavender Bead line.


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