Hello Everyone, I'm Kate -the Founder of the Elements. We are now in year 4 of this little business and it seems fitting I update you all on my current mindset; as it has shifted with time, and I find myself wanting to reintroduce myself, reinvigorated as I am.

Truthfully, I've always been a bit odd, strange, the bizarre friend, an outsider of sorts. This beloved shop was borne out of that oddness, as a way of working to translate my own unorthodox love of color (over beige on beige) and all things offbeat, eccentric, hard to find, ugly even...into sources of joy, and touchstones in our homes. Sometimes the "uglier" the better, because the more time you spend with an object, the more you have to become infatuated with its very form. Its texture. Its BECOMING.

Without a doubt, it is in the becoming and the infatuation that the magic happens. The skillset for honing in on said magic is a bit mysterious, no? Sometimes I pick pieces for the shop that no one else seems to like AT ALL.  At times, my methods and selections are clearly dubious in the eyes of even some of my biggest cheerleaders. It seems there is an enigma to taste, a riddle to cultivating style that has me ensnared. I don't really belong here. I'm more of a rouge interloper than a schooled designer. 

My focus at the Elements is our relationships with artisans. Their crafts, their traditions, skills passed down through generations, and ultimately the history of art and community.  Many hours spent researching and digger deep into a sliver of a tangential obsession almost always  leads to new connections made.  What a wonderful experience to make those connections.

Raised on the heartbeat of Lake Michigan, mine was a childhood that keeps giving. Mostly because I was so encouraged to be outside, my idle time was steeped in reflection with nature as my companion. She cultivated my strangeness more than anything else.

Over time, I've come to love the quirky leanings of my design brain and learned to second guess myself less. To know that there are many people out there - like you all reading this - who have the same offbeat aesthetic makes me overwhelmingly happy. I am so glad we found each other!

I know we will continue to come together to appreciate all the individual artists who craft and create pieces for us to enjoy.

XO Kate