July 14, 2015
Small Gunns
Our San Francisco Fair is going to be a largest yet, showcasing 500+ talented Makers in both the Herbst and Festival Pavilions at Fort Mason Center. We can’t wait to see you all there and in celebration of this upcoming weekend, we are featuring Small Gunns!
Small Gunns is a modern Pperspective on timeless classics. California-based co-conspirators and sisters, Michelle and Diana Stock, founded Small Gunns in 2011 following careers in film and advertising. Their mission is to create home accessories that are high quality, unexpected and made locally.
Diana and Michelle started Small Gunns as a reprieve from the frustration they were feeling in their careers. It’s no accident that they both chose creative paths — Michelle chose film and Diana chose advertising — but both felt disconnected from the actual “creating” and started Small Gunns as remedy to flex their creative muscles in a hands-on manner. Soon, their side project gained traction and Michelle and Diana knew that this side project was ready to become something more.
Michelle and Diana’s mom has always been a huge inspiration for the sisters. Her amazing personal style and influence surrounded them during childhood. This deeply ingrained design into their every day lives. Michelle and Diana are also visceral designers, so the pulse of the cities they called home (San Francisco and New York) and their extensive travels to places like Tokyo, Berlin, Stockholm, and Capetown have also impacted their design sensibility. Taking foundations of classic textiles, Michelle and Diana utilized vintage workwear, rugby stripes, buffalo plaid check, and reinterpreted them for the modern home.
Small Gunns’ scents take several months, sometimes years, to develop. It’s the most complex step in the process as Michelle and Diana must create fragrances they personally love as opposed to scents that may be in vogue at the time. Happy Campers was the first scent Small Gunns’ developed and is very special to them. The scent is very complex, combining a total of 13 fragrance oils and essential oils.
Michelle and Diana’s biggest lesson in creating Small Gunns was to overcome fear. Being self-taught designers, it is easy to let terror and fear make one feel insignificant or not worthy to call oneself a designer. We’ve heard this so many times within the Maker world, which is why seeing all these talented folks come together, collaborate, and offer advice to one another is such a beautiful thing.
Michelle and Diana make an effort to travel to design events a few times a year and try to be a part of the larger creative community. Talking with other makers and hearing about what they do is a huge source of inspiration. We are so honored that Small Gunns always makes it to our San Francisco Fair!
We love these sisters and can’t wait you for you all to meet them at our Fair this weekend! Don’t forget to hit up both the Herbst and Festival Pavilions this weekend. You won’t want to miss a thing! You can find Small Gunns online here: