We had been making for years before we put a logo on it: embroidered placemats for friends, engraved boards for weddings, beaded charms for the kids' birthdays. In 2023 we made it official: Crafily, registered, signed, set up in a converted garage just outside Hagerstown.

The studio grew the way good local work grows, slowly, mouth to mouth, then steadily. Abbie was already five and drawing beside us. Matthias was four and learning to sand a board. Malachi mostly painted. They have grown up at the studio table.

Today the studio runs four benches: engraving, embroidery, jewelry, the laser. There is a 3D printer in the corner and a colouring tray on the table. The grown-ups take commissions; the children take Saturdays. Sometimes the lines blur. Most of the time we don't mind.

We are still a small operation, and we intend to stay that way, because the work only holds up when the same pair of hands carries a piece from the first cut to the note that goes in the box. Every piece leaves the studio with a hand-impressed mark and a written note. If something is not right, we want to know. We will make it right.