Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Howerton.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The Local Artisan Collective is owned and operated by Stephanie Howerton and Jenny Venegas — moms, entrepreneurs, and artists who met while selling their art at local art festivals and boutiques. Over the years, they each created a loyal following and eventually joined forces to fill a need they recognized in the community to have an affordable place to shop locally year-round. Their vision was to help other artists succeed and provide a joyful shopping experience for people who want to “buy a piece of a story” and support local artists instead of mass-produced stuff and big box stores. The Collective is also a supportive venue for local Northern Utah artisans to sell their work and studio space to work in and teach classes.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Covid has given us many chances to pivot our business. We went from having 3 to 5 classes a day to learning how to teach online. This has been a wonderful skill to have while we have brought back in-person classes. We are currently teaching silversmithing, metalsmithing, gelli prints, marbling, pottery, wet felting scarves, homeschool art classes, Spanish and more.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are an award-winning hybrid art co-op with a huge variety of artist from Northern Utah. Everything is locally created in our store. When you come into our shop you will get a one of kind experience by meeting at least one of artists that made the pieces in our Collective. You have an expansive retail area that highlights our artists along with multiple classroom spaces and artists’ studios.
We love helping artists to achieve their dreams. We have artists that have been creating for 50 years to emerging artist. It is awesome to see collaborations between people as they create.
In addition to what was listed above, many of our artist do custom work, repairing services, and private classes for businesses or individual get-togethers.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Ask a lot questions to others in your field. Create a business plan. Connect with community members. Have a growth mindset. Make time for yourself outside of your business.
Pricing:
- We strive to help everyone feel like they can support local artists. We have items in our store from $.50 to $1000.
Contact Info:
- Email: localartisancollective@gmail.com
- Website: localartisancollective.com
- Instagram: localartisancollective
- Facebook: The Local Artisan Collective
- Twitter: TLACollective
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1a7v5rLkHwUM8pUHgOWAhQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-local-artisan-collective-ogden-2
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/artisancollective/_created/
