Tanya Willock and Temidra Willock-Morsch have known they wanted to run their own store together since kindergarten. As kids they didn’t just dabble in lemonade stands; they ran a full-on sidewalk bakery selling homemade cupcakes and cookies. They started tie-dying at age three, learned how to knit and weave from their grandmother as teenagers, and both went on to study art in college: Temidra with a focus in fashion and textiles and Tanya in fine art and photography. “Out of college we both went into our respective fields but had a hard time finding space to showcase our work,” says Temidra. “So we thought, why not open our own shop?” And Hidden Gem was born, right in their beachside hometown of Southampton, New York.
That was March 2019, a year before It All Went Down, but the sisters say that running a housewares business (especially one with an increasingly robust ecomm market ) proved pandemic-proof. In fact, the stay-at-home orders increased sales. “People being at home more meant they were caring more about what was in their homes, and who was making the items,” says Temidra. The bright colors and patterns you’ll find at Hidden Gem—many of them inspired by the sisters’ Antiguan heritage—feel like the perfect antidote to a long, bleak year-and-a-half of quarantine. “The Hamptons has a very specific look but we wanted to break that mold and introduce something new,” says Temidra. “The best compliment we get from people is, ‘Oh, I wanna live here!’ They step inside our world, and they get it.”
Read on for some of the sisters’ favorite items in the shop.
Linen Apron
Temidra uses her fashion and textiles training to make these linen aprons, which are designed to flow like a dress. “My mom would host monthly dinner parties in her backyard, but she’d still be cooking as the guests were arriving, coming in and out of the house in a dirty apron,” she says. These aprons are for mom—and anyone who wants to look stylish in the kitchen, even with a spill or two.
Linen Apron
Bent Candles
Tanya hand-dips these paraffin candles in an array of bright hues, then bends them into various shapes, so no two are exactly alike. “If you’re hesitant about adding color and patterns to your space, this is a nice, subtle place to start,” she says.
Bent Candles
Evil Eye Dinner Plate
“Growing up, we always had little trinkets and bracelets with the evil eye symbol,” says Temidra. “It’s for protection from evil spirits and bad energy.” Honeymooning in Western Greece in 2017, she fell in love with the work of a local ceramicist who incorporated the evil eye into his electric blue dishware. It took some convincing, but eventually she was able to set up a direct pipeline to Hidden Gem—the only place you’ll find these items in the U.S.
Evil Eye Dinner Plate
Bone Spice Pot
The sisters source many of their products from a small community of artisans in Nairobi, Kenya. “Somehow they found us on Instagram and messaged us during the pandemic,” says Temidra. “We use these little pots to hold my dad’s special seasoning concoctions at family dinners.”
Bone Spice Pot
Fringe Coasters
“Our mom weaves but she wasn’t going to weave coasters for us. She was like, ‘I have enough on my plate!’” says Temidra. Instead, the shop sources these colorful coasters from the same community of Kenyan artisans that produce their bowls and spice pots. “We’ve tried bringing muted, neutral colors into the shop but the products just sit there. When people come to Hidden Gem, they’re specifically coming for colors and prints, which is great because that's what we love and what we do best. Validation!”
Fringe Coasters
Hand-Dyed Tea Towels
Tanya’s hand-dying technique traces back to Antigua, where people make brightly colored costumes for Carnival using a sophisticated free-form tie-dye technique with powdered dyes over ice. It’s messier than the American version of tie-dying, but Tanya says the unique patterns and colors are worth it. “We like to use these tea towels for just about anything: oversized placemats, gift wrap, or hey, wear one as a shirt!”
Hand-Dyed Tea Towels
12” Sisal Bowl
The sisters give the Kenyan artisan group a general color scheme to work with, but otherwise complete creative freedom on the patterns and color combinations of these hand-woven sisal bowls. “This one’s meant to be a fruit bowl, but it’s almost like a woven sculpture,” says Temidra. “We like incorporating them as part of a gallery wall to add texture and dimension, especially for people who have kids or are renting out their space, so they don’t have to worry about someone knocking a glass piece off the wall and breaking it.”
12” Sisal Bowl
Multi Color Placemats
Temidra makes these one-of-a-kind placemats out of hemp fabric handspun by Hmong artisans in Thailand. “When I'm designing, I'm attracted to texture and color first—I’ll pick out a cool fabric and figure out what to do with it later,” she says. “What I love about this one is the really cool pleating.”
Multi Color Placemats
Resin Charcuterie Boards
The sisters have become known in the Hamptons for the wood-and-resin surfboards they design and decorate as wall art. These charcuterie boards are a functional tabletop version, made with mahogany cut and sanded by their brother, Jari Willock. Pouring the mixture of resin and ink is a complicated chemical process that can be dangerous if not done correctly. “Usually, we have minimal control over how the colors flow and blend, but sometimes Tanya uses a hairdryer to control the pattern and create a bubbly, foam-like effect that resembles a bird’s eye view of the ocean.” Sailboat cleats are affixed as handles to build on the nautical theme.
Resin Charcuterie Boards
Wood Bottle Stopper
These quirky wine corks are made from olive wood in Tunisia. “What attracted us to them is that they’re fruit-shaped,” says Temidra. “I love items with some illusion to them, where it takes people a minute to understand what they are. Like, oh wait, that’s a pear!”
Wood Bottle Stopper
Source : food
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