Barbara/ David Downey
Jewelry

Barbara Downey may be the most prolific screen painter of all time. Since 1996 she has hand-painted enough Earring & Jewelry Holders to support 40 Art & Craft shows a year and now this extremely popular e-commerce website too. That's alot of earringholders!

barb-booth-painting.jpgWhat started out as a desperate attempt to solve her own earring storage problem evolved quickly. The first one was made from an embroidery hoop. A friend asked for one and Barb decorated the wood. A couple of more friends were in the craftshow business and suggested Barb make a few and set up shop at a local show. Those first few shows were a moderate success and before long she had contracted to have some frames made. The painting went from the frame to the mesh; the frames became bigger and in varied in size and Barb was accepted into some of the finest Art & Craft Shows on the East Coast. 

While successful in her pursuits, it wasn't until her husband David left his full time job in 2002 that things really took off. He began making all their frames and together they went on the road for months at a time while attending such popular shows as the Yellow Daisy Festival near Atlanta, the Delray Affair in Delray Beach, FL, the Ann Arbor Art Fair in Michigan, and Lazy Daze in Cary, NC, among others.

Today they are based out of their home studio in Livonia, MI and are still attending shows from Key West to northern Michigan. They are particularly proud of how they have developed mobile studios and workshops so that they can keep producing work while spending time on the road. They are also firm in their beliefs about their products being hand crafted in the USA. No imports here.

Barbara and David have five children and six beautiful grandchildren.