YONDER shop - Chocolatechocolateandmarrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/YONDER2.pdf · WORDS +...
Transcript of YONDER shop - Chocolatechocolateandmarrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/YONDER2.pdf · WORDS +...
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YONDER shopModernity meets nostalgia in the sleepy seaside town of Pacifica, California.
WORDS + PHOTOS BY BROOKE BASS
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Fahey is the artist behind the dreamily illustrated ceramic and
driftwood pieces at YONDER Shop, a small space tucked behind an
old traincar coffee shop in Pacifica, fifteen miles from San Francisco.
While not quite a must-see destination for most tourists, Pacifica
does offer some of the country’s best surfing, and draws crowds for
various competitions throughout the year.
Most days, the sleepy town is blanketed in a quiet, gray fog.
The blue ocean sits behind mounds of sand dotted with driftwood
and the occasional starfish. It’s a quiet place, where often the
only sounds are the lapping waves and the distant screeches of
ocean birds. It’s from this quiet that Fahey draws inspiration for her
work. Whether she’s gazing out over the sea from the deck of her
home or scouring the sand for unique items to incorporate into her
work, Pacifica is a piece of her and a piece of her art. “I have little
secret spots in small places where I look for driftwood,” says Fahey.
“I like to go during the week when no one else is there. There’s
something just really special about being on this big beach alone.
I walk around and pick up pieces and think about the kind of work
I might want to make with it.”
These solitary walks have inspired some of Fahey’s most
treasured pieces: The sand-white ceramic mug with an old Cypress
handle. A series of plates, bowls, and platters with intricate wave-
like loops and swirls. And her most sought-after item—the drift-
wood spoon.
Before she made the transition to selling her ceramics full-
time, Fahey worked in the fast-paced corporate world of downtown
San Francisco. Even with a hectic work schedule, she always carved
ROAD TRIP
“It’s in my blood,” Linda Fahey says simply of
the seascape that inspires her creative work. “It
sounds hokey, but it’s like a friend—the ocean,
the beach, and the environment.”
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ROAD TRIP
out time for her creative side—from making and selling a few
ceramic pieces to the annual art show she curated to showcase
the creative sides of her fellow employees. In 2001, when Fahey
moved from San Francisco back to Pacifica, where she was born
and raised, she continued making art; when she was laid off from
her job in 2011, she took a leap of faith and pursued her artwork
full-time.
For most who begin a full-time career as an artist, the gains
come slowly, growing bit by bit with every piece created and ev-
ery sale made. For Fahey, it happened nearly overnight. Within
three months of her career transition, Anthropologie, the mega-hip
retailer of craft goods and clothing, was calling, hoping to include
her handcrafted driftwood spoons in their line of home goods.
“I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go from zero to sixty,” Fahey says.
But she took on the challenge despite her fears and now credits
the retailer with putting her on the map.
Today, YONDER Shop is half personal studio and half store-
front, where she works on both large- and small-batch projects,
including bowls, mugs, spoons, plates, and platters—each one, re-
gardless of the quantity ordered, handmade without molds. With the
launch of her online store, Fahey is particularly excited to do more
custom work with clients from all over the world. She also sells other
local artists’ work, such as jewelry and makeup. “It’s important to
me to promote other Pacifica artists,” she says. “YONDER Shop is a
community place.”
When asked where the name “yonder” came from, Fahey
says it popped into her head one night and just felt right. It
conveyed a sense of nostalgia, but also had a modern tone to it,
which Fahey says is a balance her work embodies, too.
For those visitors and residents in the fast-paced Bay Area
who seek a taste of peace, quiet, and a quaint sense of coastal-
inspired art and community, they haven’t very far to look—Pacifica
is just over yonder.
To see more of Fahey’s work, visit www.yondershop.com.
this page: spoons were designed as part of a collaboration w
ith Diana Fayt.