Peg and Awl Workshop Exterior In Philadelphia


We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia
...and it's bittersweet!

We are very fortunate – as a family and small business owners – to be able to follow our curiosities to wherever they may lead. Here we find ourselves in another major transition! We – Walter and I, Søren and Silas too, have decided to sell the Peg and Awl building in Port Richmond Philadelphia, and move our business into our Barn here in Chester County, Penna. It felt like a quick decision, but it was the culmination of much quiet consideration. I have always been spontaneous – or so it seems – so much is accomplished in our sleep.

Yesterday was warm and wondrous. As I walked from Port Richmond to Old City for a last minute hair appointment at Barnet Fair, and to treasure hunt at Vagabond Boutique, I felt the weight of nostalgia for what we would soon be leaving, and a lightness too, as I imagined floating, for the first time in a while, into a new unknown.

Family Portrait in the Mirror in Workshop
Restored Barn Exterior Through the Trees
Lights off – we were about to leave on Saturday but paused for a quick mirror family photograph!
Our barn as seen from the woods!

Some Things to Look Forward to in the Coming Year!

We will have a smaller space for to make and to store treasures, which is why we are reducing our catalog to our favourites and yours!

     

    The Foundlings (Peg and Awl) Building: Before and After

    Read about the Shop Renovation Project, here!

    We’ve put a lot of work into our workshop since we bought the dark and closed-up building in 2016 – from opening cinder-blocked windows and tearing down walls, to transforming the gravel and pavement into gardens. We built and set up a storefront (that we never officially opened) just before the pandemic. We poured concrete floors and filled the wide open space with an abundance of tools and machines and worked with our wonderous crew to design, make, and ship all of the treasures that we share around the world.

    We look forward to the next adventure for Peg and Awl and, too, for the building! The dream is always for some magic makers to take the reins and re-imagine a better, brighter, greener, and cleaner corner of Philadelphia.

    A lot happens through word of mouth — if you know someone who may be interested, please share!

    The Listing for Our Building

    After
    Storefront, trees, plants, and windows!
    Before
    A lightless old space full of stuff.
    After
    Employee gardens and honey bees~
    Before
    Concrete slab (though locals told us it was a wading pool in the summers and an ice hockey rink in the winters!)
    After
    A part of the woodshop!
    During
    Pouring the concrete floor.
    During
    Knocking down the in-between wall.
    Before

    Map of Philadelphia Through the Years

    Renovations and the inhabiting of the nearly abandoned building in Port Richmond, Philadelphia.

    Read Here!

     


    The Barn: Our New Shop

    Read On: Our Barn Restoration Project

    We will continue to make treasures in Philadelphia over the next few months. In May, we will be opening our new workspace to the public for a Studio Tour in May! There we will share our art, showroom, and the goings on of the new iteration of Peg and Awl.

    This space will be a gallery and showroom.

    Walter’s cozy loft studio will remain Walter’s cozy loft studio.

     


    Our Barn Restoration Project

    Read On: Our Barn Restoration Project

    “...By the time we had finished removing the rotted bits, the trusses, the rafters, and the floors, it was hard to say if we were reclaiming an old barn, or building a new one in its image. The barn shape – the space within the frame – became one of the few parts I could solidly say remained from the historic place. But over the next few weeks, as I observed the delicate skeleton of the old barn standing strong but precarious in the wind and rain – with day now inside and night inside too – I grew suspicious of this boundaryless thing I wanted to keep. What were we preserving, and more, why?”
    The Old Barn from the road.
    We hired Precise Buildings to rebuild the barn!
    Original wall that divides the two parts of the barn. Pearl and Søren, my loves. 
    A new view!