Valeska Girón is the Co-founder and designer behind Girón Guatemalan Home and Decor, a Chicago-based brand that brings a fresh perspective to apparel and home design through the lens of her Guatemalan heritage and Chicago upbringing.

As a Guatemalan-American creative, Valeska designs pieces that blend traditional inspiration with a modern aesthetic, creating collections that feel both culturally rooted and contemporary. Her work reflects a deep appreciation for textile traditions while reimagining them for today’s design-conscious customer.

Founded in 2022, Giron Guatemalan Apparel and Home began as a passion project and quickly evolved into a growing brand known for its thoughtful design and distinctive point of view. Through her work, Valeska aims to introduce Chicago to a refined interpretation of Guatemalan-inspired design—one that honors heritage while bringing something new and unexpected to the local market.

Instagram: @giron_apparelandhome

Christina is newer to the world of handmade art, but has over 18 years of professional experience designing interior environments for large brands.

She's been ready to rediscover creativity on a more intimate scale, and diving into her new business - XtinaBowBeena - has shown her new way of working.

Her current work now delves in custom ceramics, illustration, and mixed media materials - clay, glass and found objects - to celebrate imperfection, femininity and reimagine everyday functions with beauty.

Instagram: @XtinaBowBeena

BA Vibes and Designs was created as a space where art can be fun, personal, and healing. Drawing serves as a creative outlet for Bridget and a way to work through her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), embracing the beauty in “imperfection”—loose lines, uneven watercolor washes, and impressionist scenes that reflect our constantly moving world. The collection features playful and stylish items designed to add a touch of fun to your everyday life.

No AI designs here—most pieces are hand-drawn digitally, some are curated on Canva, and a few are a combination of both.

Instagram: @BAVibesandDesigns

Gianna Lucci is an artist from Central Wisconsin with a passion for exploring color and composition to create unique visual works. 

Her pursuits have included illustration, photography, face painting, and cookie decorating among many others.  When she isn't working on art, Gianna can usually be found making extensive lists of ideas for new projects while eating chocolate, dreaming of autumn, and petting her cat.   

Instagram: @gianna_lucci

David Cervantes is a design leader specializing in architectural lighting, product innovation, and advanced manufacturing.

Over the past decade, David has led products from concept through manufacturing, developing modular lighting systems and scalable product platforms that balance aesthetics, engineering, and manufacturability. His approach combines hands-on craftsmanship with emerging technologies, using rapid prototyping, digital fabrication, and systems thinking to push new ideas into production.

His work is rooted in the belief that design should not only solve problems, but create meaningful physical experiences through material, light, and process.

Instagram: @CervantesDesigns

Snarled Stitch was created as a way to both make cozy, fun projects for family and friends, but also to heal the soul and mind. When the creator, Natalie, was 8 years old, she wanted to be a ballerina. That dream led her mom to crochet little hair accessories for her to wear to dance class. The fascination with the craft was almost instant.
A few years later, Natalie realized ballet was not her passion. Around this time, she picked up a crochet hook and began making scarves. This was the beginning of a lifelong talent and craft. For years, she worked on her hobby on and off between graduating college, starting her career, and finding her 'home base' in Rockford, IL. While navigating life's chaos, she found comfort and purpose in making all different kinds of blankets, sweaters, hats, and handbags.
Snarled Stitch is the product of Natalie rekindling her love for crochet, 19 years of experience, and her passion for helping others make their ideas come to life.

Instagram: @snarledstitch

Cynthia is the maker, dreamer, and creative hands behind ArtiCyn Goods.

What started as a simple spark of curiosity in 2020 quickly grew into something much bigger. Cynthia creates purposeful, handcrafted gifts and everyday pieces using colorful materials like jelly vinyl, acrylic, and wood. She is drawn to designs that are fun, bright, and modern — pieces that feel special, bring joy, and still serve a purpose in everyday life.

Every item is thoughtfully designed and carefully made by hand. Over the years, what began with simple sewn pieces has grown into a creative collection of versatile goods, expanded through new skills, new tools, and lots of curiosity (plus a laser cutter she has grown to love).

You can usually find Cynthia at local maker markets around St. Louis, sharing her work, meeting new people, and doing what she loves most — creating beautiful, useful things meant to brighten everyday moments.

Instagram: @articyngoods 

Kathy Dodge’s art journey started like most peoples, a bored kid in the 1970’s with a bottle of glue, scissors and construction paper.  She noticed how time slipped away and worries became less while immersed in a project.  Art became a daily practice.  While raising three wonderful, loving boys, who are now grown men, Kathy achieved a Masters in Art Therapy and holds a MFT license in Ca.  Fast forward to today, you’ll find Kathy behind a bar somewhere at a music event dreaming of the next color combo on a pair of resin chicken earrings (that may or may not have cowboy boots!). Her favorite sentence when receiving a compliment on the earrings she’s wearing is “ I made them!”  

Instagram: @artfuldodge22

Founded in 2011 in Pacifica, Sunny Z Jewelry Design grew from a love of nature and creativity into a jewelry line inspired by natural beauty and earth’s quiet magic.Sunny handcrafts each piece with stones and shells collected from her travels. Guided by a deep respect for indigenous traditions and ancestral ways, Sunny creates with reverence — allowing the materials to lead, and letting each design hold its own quiet story. Her work is an invitation to slow down, connect, and wear something that feels both grounding and meaningful.

Instagram: @sunnyzjewelrydesign

Hand-Poured, Planet-Friendly Home Fragrance With a Pop-Culture Twist, Equal Ink Studio is a queer and Asian–owned small family business creating eco-conscious candles, wax melts, reed diffusers, and car diffusers that are as clean as they are clever. We started this studio with one goal: to create bold, super-scented fragrances that feel good, smell good, and do good for the planet — whether they’re lighting up your living room or riding shotgun in your car.

Instagram: @equalinkstudio

The Girl and Her Lens is rooted in photography and shaped by the sea. As a photographer first, she captures the beauty, freedom, and rhythm of coastal life through weddings, portraits, and brand storytelling.  When she's not behind the camera, her creativity has a moment to spill over into tiny pieces of ocean art — surfy stickers, postcards, and magnets that bring a splash of salt, sun, and a tiny moment to pause and see the beauty of where she lives.   

Instagram: @thegirlandherlens

Angela is a mom, artist and founder of Unpacka.com. She believes in community, small business and the power of wearing clothing intentionally. She also likes long walks on the beach and long dogs - her dachshund is named Levi

Instagram: @ShopUnpacka

Olga is a watercolor artist and founder of 7.3.1.Designs | The Gallery.  Olga's art focuses on spotlighting the beauty in our immediate surroundings.  Through the gallery, she has created a social space for everyone: artists, makers, art enthusiasts, those wanting to learn to come together in sharing ideas and moments.

@731Designs

Sarah is he heart and hands behind The Enchanted Abalone- a whimsical world of nature-inspired and colorful handmade art and jewelry. Drawing inspiration from the ocean, nature, moonlit skies and all the tiny moments of magic in between. she creates pieces that feel like treasures from another world. Every seashell and bead is part of a story- joyful, playful, and rooted in beauty. 

Instagram: @_SarahbytheSea_

Dan Arwady is a musician, charting songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, living in Pacifica, CA, with his wife Angela, his three kids, TJ (6), Tyler (4), and Leila (2), and his dog Levi.

In 2025, Arwady received an official Grammy Awards Consideration from The Recording Academy for Record of the Year, for his single, "Somebody Else". The single previously hit the charts in the US and the UK for 3 months, peaking at #38 on the Mediabase Top 40 Activator Chart in late May and peaking at #7 on the Music Week UK Commercial Pop Charts. It also reached #1 on Spotify's Iceland Charts in November 2025.

Instagram: @DanArwadyMusic

Jillian is a NorCal pottery artist that makes vibrant, empowering, and eclectic ceramic pieces to make every day more magical. Her work ranges from planters to mugs, but everything has a mystical and lovely energy that will enlighten your home.

Instagram: @Moonrise.Pottery

Will is the Oakland-based mastermind behind the fragrance brand Materia Secunda. He uses natural materials in his unisex scents that will enchant your heart and mind alike.

Instagram: @MateriaSecunda