Local Makers
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Royal Treatment: Pennyroyal Handcrafts Heirloom Leather Handbags
Jennifer Conner founded Pennyroyal after deciding to make the handbag she couldn’t find—one built with exceptional materials, thoughtful design, and lasting craftsmanship. But she didn’t initially set out to become a handbag designer. In fact, the first bag she made came about from a simple favor. “The first time I worked with leather, my mother-in-law…
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Word Tapestry
Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate Lisa Zheng. Kary Hess: How did you first get involved with the Youth Poet Laureate program, and what was the application or nomination process like? Lisa Zheng: I knew of the Youth Poet Laureate program because its past two laureates are both also from my high school. At that point,…
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Punk Rock
Pascal Favire is a stonemason, artist, and musician whose craft runs deep in his lineage. His family—father, grandfather, great-grandfather and even further back—were all stonemasons in France for at least 800 years. Faivre began apprenticing alongside his father at the age of seven, learning the traditional French masonry arts. He emigrated from France in 1990…
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Timeless Beauty
Jess Brown’s Keepsake Clothes, Quilts and Dolls. Kary Hess: Your work has such a classic, universal quality. What influences your designs?Jess Brown: Thank you so much! I think my biggest influences lie somewhere between beauty, texture, and utilitarianism. I’m inspired by the traditions of combining beautiful textiles with garments or products that can actually be…
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Local Makers – Kaylee Weeks
Kaylee Weeks, owner of Lilclaygrl, is a ceramic artist based in Petaluma, California. She earned her BA in Ceramic Arts from Sonoma State University in 2019, and her passion for ceramics began in 2015 during an internship with Peter Shire at Echo X Park in Los Angeles. Now working at Kickwheel Sonoma Clay Center, Kaylee…
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Local Makers – Environmental Journey
Dave Seter is a civil and environmental engineer, poet, and essayist. Named Sonoma County Poet Laureate (2024-26), he’s the author of Don’t Sing to Me of Electric Fences (2021) and Night Duty (2010), both focusing on social and environmental issues. His work has appeared in Appalachia, Cider Press Review, The Florida Review, The Hopper, Poetry…
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Making an Impression: Artist Amaya Lounibos Explores Home and Inclusivity
In the vibrant art scene of the San Francisco Bay Area, Chilean-American artist Amaya Lounibos Hartard stands out as an emerging voice; her work is infused with themes of home, childhood, and the complexities of her identity as a queer, biracial woman. Formerly a member of Petaluma’s Magic Shop Studio Collective, she is pursuing her…
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Local Makers – In Stitches
Heidi Iverson, a founding member of Fibershed, is a textile artist, clothing designer, and natural dye advocate who focuses on minimum waste practices. She teaches classes in natural dying, mending, and slow stitching and lives in a second-growth redwood forest in western Sonoma County with her husband and two ridiculous cats. Made Local: Tell us…