I grew up surrounded by people who made things by hand. My mother and grandmother sewed, knitted, embroidered, cooked, baked, and canned. My great aunt was a seamstress taught by her husband, a tailor. On Sundays, their dining room table was spread with linen towels covered in handmade drying pasta, the sewing machines waiting along the edges of the room to be used again the following day. Homemade wine from grapes growing in the backyard was enjoyed with dinner. We were dressed in clothing sewn with love by all of these women, and pulled closed handmade curtains when we went to sleep in nightgowns and pajamas also sewn by them. My father was not afraid to build and fix, and he loved to make our home aesthetically beautiful and cozy. In short, if you needed it there was a way to make it. If you didn't have the materials, you learned to improvise and use something else in its place.

To this day the passion of creating things is an integral part of my life and a day is not complete if I have not made something. Through times of less abundance, I have learned to love the challenge of using what I have on hand. The thrill of finding and transforming an ordinary object into something else that has both beauty and purpose is pleasing in a way that satisfies heart and mind. 

 —Cardinale Montano, founder