Velouria

It's easy to nearly walk right by Velouria. It's an unassuming, robin egg blue storefront,, recessed a bit into the turn of the century Ballard building it occupies. But for anyone interested in the indie artisan movement, double back up Market Street if you miss it the first time; Velouria is filled with treasures.

Inspired by the growing interest in handmade, as evidenced by local craft fairs such as I Heart Rummage and Urban Craft Uprising, the success of internet marketplaces such as Etsy and Artfire, and magazines such as MAKE, Velouria's founder, Tes de Luna, has been hand curating the wares sold in her shop for over six years.

Her eye is good—most of the artists and wares de Luna stocks at Velouria are well ahead of the trend curve. It's not surprising to see styles you saw at Velouria months previously make their way, slowly but surely, into the mainstream months later. The inventory is heavy on small sized women's clothing—not very many things available for a plus-size woman (although special orders with the designers can be arranged if you fall in love with a frock and they have access to an in-house tailor).

The stand-out items are almost always the selection of jewelry (junk and silver) and accessories (including a good selection of ubiquitous Queen Bee bags and purses—a small company out of Olympia whose bags hang from the shoulder of many in-the-know hipster ladies).

HelloSeattle Tip: Don't let the price tags scare you off. For those of us accustomed to buying machine and factory made at retail, the idea of paying double-to-quadruple the price can be daunting. But remember, everything at Velouria is handmade in small batches, and for that, the prices are more than fair.

- by Caren Gussoff Sumption, Seattle Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Caren Gussoff Sumption

Caren Gussoff Sumption is a freelance writer and editor from Seattle, WA. She's written for USA Today, the Seattle Times/NW Source, MSN and AOL, and her fiction has been published worldwide. She received her MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.