Hello Everyone! I'm William, and I, along with my husband, Andrew, own Allegory Gallery and Star Cottage Studio.
I wanted to take a moment to give you an idea of who I am and what I'm all about. This will be very informal (as I think small businesses and those who run them should be close with their supporters…I don't even like to call people customers, as that sounds too cold).
I grew up in a very small, rural town (so small that while the name exists on the local volunteer firehall, the town itself was actually eaten up by a neighboring town). I enjoyed growing up in a very small house that was only mean to be a summer cottage, but my parents did a little work of their own to make it usable for us year-round. We didn't have a lot of money, but we didn't realize it at the time, either.
Growing up was sometimes hard though. I was a nerdy/geeky kid (now very proud of my geekiness haha), and I developed vitiligo fairly young, which was very difficult because a lot of people didn't understand it back then. Add to that the challenges of coming to terms with being gay in the 80s/90s, and let's just say I had a pretty challenging childhood. But, it wasn't all bad. I had some really wonderful family who accepted me and did all they could to help me. I also had dreams of owning my own small business someday and that was something that I could get lost in through about…just dreaming about how great that would be!
After high school, I graduated from Penn State (We are…) with a degree in French Language and Culture and another degree in Spanish Literature. I had also studied some German and Japanese along the way. I've always been very interested in other cultures and the ways people live and communicate. I'm very much a people person a heart, but, being an introvert, I also get peopled-out sometimes!
I then moved to NYC after school and worked for and managed a few small businesses there. That's when I met my husband. I had pretty much given up on meeting anyone (I know…THAT old story, right?). And then we found one another. After a few years living there together, we decided to move back closer to where I grew up. My grandparents who were still living were getting older, and I wanted to spend time with them and also have them get to know Andrew. I could tell he was someone very special and I wanted them to be able to have time with him, as well—and see that I was happy.
So, we moved back. And, in short time, synchronicities happened that gave us the opportunity to start our own business in a small town near where we moved. Thus, in 2011, Allegory Gallery was born.
It's been a wonderful ride since then, and we're still growing and developing. We've kept much of what we do in house and has always been mostly run by the two of us (sometimes with some help from some great friends, too). I proud of what we've accomplished (both having come from very little), and when our friends and supporters are happy, it lightens my heart. I love getting to know everyone, and we really do treat one another in our little community as family—go #AGBeadFam!
In addition to helping Andrew create items in our metal studio at Star Cottage Studio, I'm also a part-time potter, and have been working on my skills in both wheel-throwing and glazing—those are the two most fun things about pottery for me so far. If you'd like to see some of what I do, I hope you'll take a look at the collection below.
I thank you so much for taking a look at my page and for reading if you've gotten this far! I hope you'll continue to spend time with both Andrew and me here at Allegory Gallery, and we can't wait to meet you and include you in our family!
Sincerely,
William
