After years of working with local jewelers who cast, finished, and sized our jewels, which was after years of my finishing the jewelry in our dining room, we finally set up our own jewelry shop at the Peg and Awl building! In addition to designing the jewelry and packaging, we now do the entire lost wax casting process in house – making molds, waxes, casting, and finishing!

Jewelry remains a Peg and Awl outlier (we all need outliers!) as it is not useful like our other objects are useful. It is symbolic, representative, adorning, and meant to be part of an ongoing narrative. I am drawn to making jewelry as objects that continually flow through human hands, like objects at a flea market – all symbolism and storytelling and marks of use from imagined pasts and futures.

We love digging into history and happenstance for our collections, and have been working on a few tricky ideas which we hope to be able to share with you soon! Until then, peak inside our workshop and collections.

Rubber molds.	Waxes of Foundlings Earrings!

Flasks for plaster molds.	Nitrogen regulator to keep the casting operator oxygen-free!

Getting ready to cast!	Our first in-house silver tree!

Liver of Sulfer to blacken the details. How to (re)oxidize your jewelry below.*	Ready for finishing and polishing. The details will hold onto the black/oxidized finish.

Polishing the insides of the rings.	Stamping the Peg and Awl mark in our rings!

Finished pendants from our Botanical Collection.	Epic Desk Caddy atop my first and still-used jeweler’s bench — a gift from my dad after receiving a high school scholarship for a summer art program at Moore!

Foundlings Collection

Foundlings is a collection that has come to life through the layering of hands that make. 

One end-of-winter morning, we ventured out into the last grey of the season-leaving, amongst sagging time-worn tables that house trash and magic. Flea markets are often secret repositories of history, and we were about to dive backwards some 200 years, as sparkly creatures, patiently waiting out their decades of idleness, nearly rose up from their tattered box to greet us. Farm animals, imagined animals, flowers, and other wonders of the natural world – painted by unknown hands in an unknown time, fairly pulsed with scintillating energy upon nests of scritchy, scratchy handwritten ledgers, lessons, and language, impeccably penned by generations past.

Our discovery of these mischievous old fellows has led to yet another transformation. A select few have been carved and cast to retain their child-like style and to celebrate the expressional whimsy of each nurtured creature.

Terran Necklace, a tulip!	The original flower ledger art that we discovered at a flea market.

Adding details to the cat creature Ash from clay for molds.	Sculpted cat face models of Foundlings Earrings.

The original tapir that we named Fern.	Fern Earrings cast from the found artwork.

I love working on the packaging for jewelry, ‘tis where we add the layers of story!	Sketching the design for the Foundlings booklet.

Foundlings packaging in the works.	Dip pen on this lavish paper, a little bleedy, a lot magic!

Foundlings, boxed! The perfect addition of the little jewelry boxes that Walter made from our scrap pile.	Final Foundlings packaging, printed locally by Fireball Printing.

All the Names Collection

All the Names incorporates small brass frames from mid-1800s Daguerreotype and Ambrotype hinge cases that once framed faces whose names are forever lost. 

In 1847, preservers or brass frames, were added to hinge photograph cases. They wrapped the glass, mat and image to protect the delicate photograph from oxygen. We have taken the cases apart and transformed them into jewelry. 

The hinge photograph case that became Eulalie.	Silicon mold from brass frames. First step of transformation.

Silver frame pieces, next rounded and recast into a variety of sizes.	Finished! Here is Eulalie, named for Edgar Allan Poe's poem.

All of the names, with the exception of Beatrice, after my grandmother, have come from characters in books.	Creating the faces for the packaging!

This packaging happened while and because of a class I was taking at the time – a children's book illustration class by Make Art That Sells.	A stack of Dorian rings, named for Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray – the first book Walter shared with me when we met!

Poison for Breakfast Collection

I have been lost in a magical world that I can barely believe isn't all in my head. Black and white with lots of exploration and learning. And eggs on repeat. Tis a place I can go when the sun goes down—scribbling, scribbling...⁠⁠

These pieces were made to accompany Poison for Breakfast, written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by me, Margaux. Pretty sure this was one of the most extraordinary projects I partook in…the reality is coming in and out of focus. 

Inspired to continue on, we decided to move the marks on paper into metal pieces for this small collection, which pertains to this enormous philosophical question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"⁠⁠ 

I love this photograph of Søren. He was so pleased with the final version. Seeing his face made it real-er to me!

My model, Ragnar as a chick, perched on my journal on the kitchen table, where chicks belong.	My original drawing.

Lasered stencils from procreate tracings of my drawings.	Shaping clay minis after pulling them out of the stencil!

Our first in shop mold!	Waxes to be built into a tree and cast in silver, gold, and bronze!

Wax tree prepared for mold making.	Chicken + Egg Necklace in our Walnut Jewelry Box.

Botanical Collection

Often times our most wonderful discoveries are merely the recognition of what is before us – and in this case under foot! Our botanical jewelry collection was inspired by our unearthing of the usefulness of weeds and pays homage to its winged cultivator.

*How to (re)oxidize your jewelry! If you are drawn towards the fully oxidized silver variation on the left, it is easy to do yourself (as we no longer offer this version in our shop) – start with smashing a hard boiled egg in a container. Next put the ring into the container with the egg. Close it and let it sit in the fridge for several hours. Take it out when the darkness suits your fancy — the longer it stays in the sulfur, the more oxidized it will become.  Then polish with a cloth or the ankle part of your jeans — no one will notice the black spot down there...

Seed packet packaging!	My journal page from April 2014...

Dandelion – the entire plant is edible! How many ways can you prepare Dandelion?	Botanical rings, pickled after casting.

The first abandoned house I remember exploring was across from the grocery store my mom and I skipped to, arm in arm, when I was in 7th grade. We had seen its decaying Victorian turrets peeking above the abundance of neglected foliage many times before braving its withered threshold. Early one Spring, we ventured into that liminal space and I don't believe I ever completely left. Inside reeked of piss and mildew. Broken bottles and yellowed newspapers made a foul floor for weekend teenagers. But in the center – beneath a makeshift skylight and its funnel of wintry, warm, yellow sun – grew a single white tulip. Discovering this unexpected beauty with my mom so long ago, was surely a heavy pour in the cocktail of experiences from my youth that helped determine who I was to become.⁠

Three years ago, just one year after officially beginning our homeschool adventure with Søren and Silas, we decided to move out of Philadelphia in search of a new home amongst the trees. We quickly stumbled upon the patch of land that we’ve come to call The Five Acre Wood – consisting of a ton of invasive growth, some lawn, woods, ponds, animals, two creeks, our house (built in the late 1700s or early 1800s), a spring house (formerly our studio) and – just across the road – a dilapidated barn. Truly, our timing was perfect.

The Old Barn from the road.	We hired Precise Buildings to rebuild the barn!

In the listing Walter had spied a corner of the barn – a cautious partial revealing of this daunting danger for most, we reckoned, and possibly the reason the house had been on the market for so long. But we dreamed of transforming the barn into a studio for art, homeschooling, woodworking, and yoga. Two years after our move, with the sale of our Philadelphia home (previously serving as an Airbnb), we were able to embark on this new adventure.

The project began with the removal of decades – centuries even – of junk that had been accumulating. We briefly considered hauling the stuff to a flea market to help fund the barn restoration, but after moving some of it out (there was so much!) we ordered a dumpster, and set everything curious in rows in the grass for the taking. There were chairs, well-loved ice skates, wooden sleds, tons of old bottles and antique toys – and then came the people – making it a strange theatre. The conversations that arose during the treasure-dispersal resulted in many journal pages of quotidian conversations which reveal people to be anything but the perceived everyday.

Most of these strange treasures found homes...	The telephone operator thing went to a musician who plans to turn it into something musical.

After the emptying, came the digging of an incredibly deep well which resulted in the grinding and unexpected excavating of Wissahickon Schist – also known as trash stone – from which our house was built. I collected a salad container full and transformed some of the pre-ground pigment into paint for my Iris Painter’s Palette.

Look for Bioplastic Pans of this handmade watercolor paint in our First Of a Kind Collection of the Year!	Wissahickon Schist — also known as Trash Stone — makes a gorgeous ghost green colour.

We then removed the lead-free wood siding, the tin roof, the old doors, the flooring, and some beams, with the intention of re-using as much of this as possible in different places both inside of the barn and out. When the township inspector came and saw the rotted state of the exposed bits that were revealed, we had to embark upon a plan b, which brings to mind The Ship of Theseus.

By the time we finished removing the rotted bits, the trusses, the rafters, 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 of 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?

Putting on a new roof before taking it off to remove more of the old.	Delicate skeleton of the old barn.

After getting over the long pause whilst figuring out plan b...	A new view!

Most of the structure is new now, but within it is a tapestry of old materials. Walter transformed the old extinct-ish American Chestnut tree trunk beams into two glorious sets of double doors. An old second floor door, which led to an unsurvivable drop, is now part of the bathroom. The old floorboards were flipped and trimmed and woven with old floorsboards from other barns, and together have been sanded and oiled. The crooked skeleton of hand-hewn wood with its mortise and tenon joints, trunnels, and roman numeral marriage marks, lingers charmingly in the middle of the new open space. The white-washed wall, that once held tobaggons, hockey sticks, and fishing poles still divides the two main spaces. The stone-walled basement, where the barn’s last farm animal – a calf – lived in the 1960s, will soon be a woodshop and ceramic studio. We put windows and skylights throughout the building, replacing the vertical cracks that let only slivers of light in for the past 200 or so years.

The shape within the frame remains, but the air that flowed through it like water through a river, has surely been fully turned over. Already, the newly brightened space has illuminated a life unimagined by the original builders, including family yoga, the beginning of a writing and drawing workshop, the penciling of portraits, the playing of boardgames, the making of maps, a happy Pearl and a sleepy Pearl, and the curiosity of two families embarking on new adventures. The barn is made of pieces that were and are and will be. Are we so different?

A Trunnel – one of many Tree Nails securing the original structure.	Roman Numeral Marriage Marks to help builders determine what went where!

An exterior door that led to the unsurvivable drop, (that looks rather survivable from here...)	...is now our bathroom door!

The Floor Sanders – Søren, Silas, and I — unintentionally recreating The Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte.	The Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte

A satisfying before and after! We first rented this Drum Floor Sander and used 60 grit sandpaper, then used this Orbital Sander with 80 and 100 grit.	Finishing the new floor with Citrus Solvent and Tung Oil from The Real Milk Paint Company. We use this natural finish on Peg and Awl treasures too!

Pearl enjoying the new space from her favourite rug – a flea market find!	We painted the floor white! Søren tries out the new staircase that he helped install,

Original wall that divides the two parts of the barn. Pearl and Søren, my loves.	Walter used the saw mill to make doors out of the American Chestnut trunks!

American Chestnut Tree beams born in the 1700s leave their lowly position of being walked upon + now usher in light, people, and animals!	Walter’s gorgeous first go at door building!

Folktale Week 2021, an Instagram Art Challenge, is here!

Grab your crystal ball – the official @folktaleweek prompts are ready! This year we’re guided by the natural and supernatural world of folktales, and as always, let the prompts inspire you to interpret and create in any way you want! Folktale Week is open to creators from all skill levels and disciplines, from artist-illustrators and quilters to poets and puppeteers!

How to join: Follow the prompts, one per day, for each day of Folktale Week, November 15–21, 2021. Use hashtags #folktaleweek and #folktaleweek2021 to show your work. During Folktale Week, hosts will pull work from the hashtag to promote in our stories and in the official @folktaleweek account!

Art by @deborah.j.stein	Art by @kalyquarles

As for me, I was going to sit this year out, but was inspired by an old house I’ve had my eye on in the neighborhood. And too, taking the pressure off always seems to make a thing happen. I shall see where it takes me…

Prompt Art	Ghost child feet and licorice.

I walked without Pearl this time, to see the house Pearl and I often see on our walk. The house that has been nestled betwixt creek and trees for nearly 300 years. An unexpected snowball of a woman fell out of a car, and proceeded to tell me details about the family, the land, and added frivolity to my morning. “People don’t understand old houses,” she said. “That’s why I’m here.”

Who was this woman? Someone who spent 15 Christmases in a very brown room with what she called a ‘walk in’ fireplace which, though big, could not fit one of my ghost children sitting down with a mask on.

People try to sell you their memories. Their misunderstandings. I am reminded of the endowment effect. Emotional biases.

“Over here,” she said, “You can build a building for animals. But you can’t build a building for people.” Smiling, she begins to share the story of her last horse and the moldy hay her mom had fed him…

But that isn’t a story from this house. This house that housed the same family (not hers) since 1962. My mom was 12 then. My dad, 19. Memom was 51 already. More than half of her life had been lived. Sometimes time feels like a trick. Memom, 51 ever? Wasn’t she always just my grandmother?

This house, perpetually lived in for so long, is now too caverness, too dark, and too small to be lived in by most modern folk. I sift through dot matrix printouts of the home’s history – for something. Through the Silas’s and the Amos’s and the John’s that lived here. And the women – wives only – with first names anyway: Estella, Sarah, Gladys, Emma, Marion, and Viola.

Some of us will always be inspired by what remains, but Folktale Week especially inspires a backwards glance!

Detail from #folktaleweek2020	#folktaleweek spread in Orra Portrait journal 2020

“Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”
—A Tanzanian Proverb

This project started from the #100dayproject challenge on Instagram. I’ve participated in this for the last few years, and it encourages me to make marks daily. I think often of a conversation with a yoga teacher from long ago:

“Do you practice everyday?” I asked her.
“I commit to 5 minutes a day,” she said. “Some days it will turn into hours, other days, merely 5 minutes.”

A weight was lifted when she told me this, and I’ve been doing yoga daily, since. I’ve moved the 5 minute theory into other parts of my life, too – like drawing. Some of the drawings in these sketchbooks took 5 minutes, others took hours. It doesn't matter how long I spend with each drawing, just that I sat down to make some marks. 

Here are some scraps of my 2021 Non-Dominant Hand project in my 6″ Anselm Bookbinding Kit Sketchbooks – I am currently on day 231!

30 March 2021, Day 59: It all happens more slowly on the Other Side (the left, for me) and more deliberate. And, it being so unfamiliar, I let it be, I let it move as it wishes to move. I am not judgmental or upset with its way of going about making marks. Of saying things. It isn’t the rightest, but what is? I thank this Other Side, which strangely, is still me.

Trio of Anselms – filled and filling with left-handed scribblings	Day 79: My mom’s house, and an old photograph strip I found in the basement. Previously unseen by me

16 October 2021, Day 225: As the days progress I am feeling so satisfied with the pages in these books. Being pleased with my work doesn’t come often or easy. There is something about using my left hand, my Other, which feels more like being in the presence of a friend’s work – it is easy to see what is good overwhat is bad. Why this brutal treatment of the self which so many of us ease into unquestioningly?

13 + 14 March 2021, Days 43 + 44: Pandemic Birthday Camping Trip in snowy Pennsylvania	15 + 16 March 2021, Days 44 + 45: Emmaus Wildlands Conservancy, Emmaus Pennsylvania

9 October 2021: I’ve been drawing with my left hand nearly daily this year. When I pick up a paintbrush or dip pen, I unconsciously use this Other. Of course, it isn’t as agile as my right, but this Otherness is what gives me the quirks I’ve longed for. And the three of us, my brains and both hands, are settling in and all getting along quite nicely.

I am also now consciously breathing through my nose. I’ve discovered James Nestor’s book Breath, which had me spontaneously taping my mouth shut whilst sleeping – and Walter’s too.

Result: I slept through the night. This rarely happens.

17 October 2021, Day 226: Detail of Clouds from a pre-storm walk with Pearl	Same day, date, another detail

So here I am today – a little clearer and more at ease. This has been a rough year, (Not without beauty and bright spots, but with a weight that I cannot seem to shake.) I often discover that I am holding my breath. Finding this book will hopefully lead me to some Lightness.

There is something similar in the nose/mouth exchange and the left/right hand exchange. There is so much in each of us, I imagine, that we hold tight, stifle even, without knowing.

So begins a simultaneous journey.

Our Autumn collection is full of Violets, Reds, and Grays, just in time to join an adventure amongst the first changing of the leaves! Their stories evolve as they pivot to new lives in our hands then yours. Journals lined with antique textiles breathe subtle change into our classic collections. Waxed canvas pouches covered with antique textiles explode with colour amongst our earth tones. Alternative Sketchbooks and Original Foundlings Art transform adventures and walls.⁠
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These collections go fast - we will send out an email announcement 3 hours before they are available – you will be able to look through each item in the collection at that time.⁠ Join our newsletter to receive the preview and launch announcements! ⁠⁠

Walter paints a portrait with The Scout Plein Air Box. 

Time isn't very orderly these days.
It speeds up and slows down inexplicably.
This was this winter, or years ago.

Read the backstory of how Walter came to develop the Scout Plein Air Box, which was inspired by our endeavor to make art every day. 

We've been going back to our roots, concocting four Of a Kind collections throughout the year - made from antique textiles and other miscellany gathered from abandoned houses, flea markets, and wherever else we can find them! This collection took a dramatic colour change and blends in with a lot of the treasures from nature that have been accumulating on my desk! ⁠

These collections go fast - we will send out an email announcement 3 hours before they are available – you will be able to look through each item in the collection at that time.⁠ Join our newsletter to receive the preview and launch announcements! ⁠

Amy Voloshin, founder of Voloshin and PrintFresh, interviews Margaux Kent of Peg and Awl! 

I first met Margaux when she dropped by our studio to try on a few dresses. She already had a few of our pieces from one of our mutually favorite Philly boutiques, Vagabond, and wanted to try on some of our new styles. We got to talking all things small business, creativity, and balancing it all with motherhood. She's a fascinating creative with such a distinct viewpoint. Her artwork and commitment to handmade goods is an inspiration to me, and I hope you enjoy learning more about her process. Also, if you are ever in Philadelphia be sure to stay at her gorgeous Airbnb*, which is so beautiful and an amazing escape in the city. - Amy Voloshin

Margaux, can you tell us a little about how you would describe your line Peg and Awl?

Peg and Awl is kind of a dream. The beginning of the story goes like this: “We used to make things for ourselves, and now we make them for everyone.” Peg and Awl came to be without a plan—just the want to make. It is a small business that thrives on discovery and meandering and curiosity. And on usefulness, craftsmanship, research, reflection, sustainability and longevity. It is a reaction to our disposable culture, and a connection to the past and the present. Peg and Awl is story and family. It is freedom and hard work. 

What did you study in school? 

Photography and Jewelry Design.

When did you start your line and what was your first product?

We started in 2010 with the Tub Caddy. For much of my life I threw splintery 2x4s across my tub and wrote and drew in the bath. When I met Walter—a woodworker—I asked if he could make me a better one. A year or so on, we were working on our Fishtown home with wood collected from 1800s buildings that were being torn down in the neighborhood. At that time people thanked us for hauling away their garbage and one company even parked a dumpster on our block for a week for us to pick until our heart’s content!

One day Walter went down to his basement woodshop, used some of the scrap antique wood and made a tub caddy. He climbed the stairs with his prize (my treasure!) in his hands. It was simple and useful and beautiful! We took photographs straight away and thus began Peg and Awl. 

The retail landscape is drastically different these days - I know I’ve seen you at tradeshows, do you currently sell to stores? Or do you do a lot of business through your online shop? 

We sell to some stores but have greatly reduced the amount since the days of the tradeshows—very intentionally. We have some really long, strong relationships that we love including the New York Public Library, Museum Shops, and Goop, and we partner with some incredible companies like Rishi Tea. Otherwise we sell mostly through our website! 

Where do you get your inspiration for new products? What does that design process look like?

From life! The process is different for each object. For example, the Sendak Artist Roll, our best-selling treasure currently, arose from my trip to Spain for an illustration class. When I returned, I designed the case I wished I'd had whilst traveling. Walter is currently working on a plein air box after a recent painting adventure in Italy! Because we use so many materials, each object emerges in a different way, but everything comes from a need. We put the objects to personal use first and make changes as we see the need until we are finally ready to share them with the world! 

Your line conjures up a feeling from the past which reminds me of antiques and life from long ago - has that always been an inspiration to you? What was your style like when you were younger, and how has your style evolved over time? 

I’ve always loved flea markets and abandoned houses and spent much time at both with my mom growing up! I love the effect that time has on an object, along with the stories they carry. Walter loves history and appreciates historic objects for their usefulness and quality. When we started Peg and Awl (and my first business, The Black Spot Books), we transformed antique objects and materials into new and useful objects. So the character and effects of time were in everything.

As we began to run out of antique materials (such as antique gunslings for our bag straps) we began searching for new materials with old-fashioned quality that don’t negatively impact our planet. These quests transformed our business, but not the quality of our work. We travelled to England to visit a 500-year-old leather factory and then to Pennsylvania (quite roundabout) to discover the company we currently work with. And we learned a LOT about leather.

We still use wood from old buildings for desk caddies and one of a kinds but have added sustainable domestic hardwood for kitchen items and furniture. We love for the things we make to reflect a timelessness both forward and back, but it is never our goal to merely replicate what was. 

What’s it like working with your spouse? How do you divide your responsibilities? Now under quarantine, are you both working at home together? 

We love working together and through the years have come to divide our responsibilities naturally to support our individual strengths. We do a lot of work from home now, and we are also spending more time with our boys—whom we homeschool already. Walter has taken to baking bread (so you may see some kitchen and bread objects come out of Peg and Awl soon!) and we’ve been making a lot of art together. Initially, I thought quarantine meant we’d have a little time to pause and ‘catch up’, but it turned into a busy time for us trying to keep the business alive!

Tintype by Giles Clement

What does a typical day look like for you?

Oh. Well, I am incredibly unorganized, and I have a go button that won’t turn off. No two days are the same. Only the beginnings and ends – when I am alone, and my family is sleeping – are ‘typical’. I rise at 7, make coffee and write and draw in my journal, I end most of my days drawing, and crawl into bed by midnight to read. 

The in-betweens are different daily, I do sit at my computer much more than I’d prefer! Some days I take photographs, others – lately – involve video. I spend a lot of time writing, responding to customers, and working on SEO. When businesses open, I cannot wait to go back to flea markets for inspiration and materials. I also design new treasures and work on our packaging and postcards. A lot of this is done with our small marketing team of 3! 

I’m fascinated by homeschooling; how did you make the decision to start? Now that so many families are homeschooling right now during quarantine, do you have any advice for starting out? How structured is your curriculum?

We’d been contemplating homeschooling since I was pregnant with Søren. Walter was homeschooled and his family stories always sounded so wonderful (he is one of twelve kiddos!). The things that matter to us – learning through art and exploration and travel – to name a few, cannot really happen in an institution. And these years are the VERY years we get to be so close with our boys! And every day after school, S+S were grumpy. Life was jammed into the space that remained after school, after homework, after work.

So, when Søren was going into 5th grade, and Silas into 2nd, we discovered Open Connections, a homeschooling co-op of sorts. After one visit, we made the quick decision to give it a go – and it has been wonderful. Of course, the pandemic changed this year a lot – we’ve since bought a camper and are going to tuck some good old road-schooling into our education. (Of course, education isn’t just for kids!)

Many of us are struggling right now to work and have children at home - how have you balanced the two? You are remarkably creative, how do you fit it all in? What advice would you share to those of us who are new to balancing work and homeschooling? 

I think our boys have a lot to do with our success. They are often as deep into projects as we are. Sometimes side by side, and other times I won’t see them for hours. But mostly I feel that it is really hard for me to keep a thread with so much going on. I love so many things and wish to jam so much in a day between work, boys, and art. So, yeah, I struggle with that too – all of the time! Who doesn’t?!

What does self care look like for you? What do you do to nourish yourself?

Oh dear. Herein lies my grey cloud. I love walking and yoga. I love reading and writing and drawing. And gardening. In a dream world I do all of this every day, and this is why my solitary ends of each day are so important to me! But I don’t get much of any. I squeeze in what I can in very small doses. And so it goes…

What’s your favorite way to exercise? 

I really REALLY enjoyed moving fieldstone around the 5 Acre Wood the first 2 weeks of quarantine! We have so much rock here! It felt very Sisyphean, but so do many things. And I sweat and I felt strong. And then I stopped. And now I am melting a little. I love kayaking and swimming and wandering in the woods. I love yoga. Getting lost altogether in a thing is my favourite. Not counting the minutes or the miles, just wandering.

Do you have a favorite article of clothing or accessory?

I have a very small closet (and I love this) so nearly everything is a favourite. Some clothing I’ve had for decades – including a Leonard Cohen T shirt that I got at a concert in 1993! Lately, I’ve been loving a black slip – the under layer of a Voloshin dress. I wear it gardening, hiking, swimming even, and a romper from Black Crane. I love gray – or rather black worn so much it fades to the perfect grey. 

What are your favorite spots for shopping and eating in Philly?

My goodness this question feels so unreal!

I love Suraya, Stock, Artist and Craftsman, and Vagabond (where I discovered Voloshin!)

Where can we purchase your items?

www.pegandawlbuilt.com !

*Note, January 2022: With the sale of our Philadelphia home (previously serving as an Airbnb), we were able to and embark on this new Barn Restoration Project.

What happens when two founders meet, each of whom is already breaking new ground with her products, and whose similarities seem to leap to mind even before they’ve had a chance to talk? Exactly! Only good things can come out of it! And that’s exactly how things went between Wildling founder Anna Yona and Margaux Kent, who created the Peg and Awl brand together with her husband Walter. In a virtual meeting, the two founders chat about their brands, their everyday work life, and their collaboration.

Margaux, tell me... what do you do at Peg and Awl? And how did you come up with the idea of founding a company together?

Walter and I have always enjoyed doing things ourselves. My great passion is bookbinding, and Walter loves working with wood. In the beginning we rummaged around at a bunch of flea markets and rescued old wood from the rubble of torn down houses using Walter’s rusty pickup truck. We then used our finds to craft beautiful and useful items for our home.
A little over a year later our first son, Søren, was born and Walter and I got married in Iceland.

But barely a year went by before we founded Peg and Awl. I was pregnant with our second son, Silas, and Walter had just returned from a mission in Iraq. After celebrating our reunion, Walter headed straight for the workbench in the basement and built me a new book rest for the bathtub – a long-standing wish of mine. This gave rise to the idea of producing useful items that weren’t just for us, but for everyone.

Over the past ten years, Peg and Awl has grown significantly. What’s different now?

We started our company as a couple, and now we are a 15-person team handling all the work ourselves, from accounting and product design to production and sales. We’re still small but we’ve become much more efficient.

On top of that, we have most likely exhausted the local supply of old raw materials. In the beginning, we recycled antique leather – which was formerly used for rifle straps – to make our bags, and worked with reclaimed wood. But at a certain point we had to look for alternatives. I was even close to abandoning everything because I didn’t like the idea of buying conventional leather.

Fortunately I managed to find a producer virtually around the corner who offers vegetable-tanned organic leather – that’s something I can stand by personally and that’s what we’re working with now. The search for wood ended ten miles south of Pennsylvania, where we work. We found a 17th century sawmill that is still in operation and has processed hardwoods from the region for two decades.

While the sources for raw materials have changed a little, the rustic look of Peg and Awl products has been preserved and is also reflected in the Wildling model Griffin and the matching Silva bag that was inspired by it. How did this actually come about, Anna?

I’ve been following Peg and Awl for a very, very long time. Margaux’s newsletter is one of Wildling’s best-practice examples, and a picture of her tote bag is pinned on the mood board for our very first collection. I also have two bags and a backpack because I love the design, the rugged look and the materials. (At this point we can picture Anna enthusiastically holding a black canvas bag in front of the camera).

The approach of taking something old, something that at first glance may seem outdated, and creating something new that is not only beautiful but also becomes a part of your everyday life – that approach resonated with me immediately. Learning to value things again instead of just throwing them away is also one of the directions we want to pursue at Wildling. It was clear to me relatively quickly that I absolutely wanted to work with Margaux and her family to develop a new product.

You produced the Silva bag in Pennsylvania. What do you think of Griffin – the new Peg and Awl inspired Wildling? And how was the collaboration for you, Margaux?

Unfortunately I haven’t held a pair in my hands yet, but they look great in the photos! I can hardly wait to finally wear them. We like to walk barefoot a lot and we wear barefoot shoes, but I have never had a pair of Wildlings on before and I am really excited.

Our collaboration actually turned out to be kind of a blend of cooperation and contract work since we unfortunately couldn’t coordinate things with each other live and on site. If we ever work together on something again, I hope that we can meet in person. In that case, I would love to come to Germany, visit the studio, and fine-tune the designs together.

What do you think, Anna? Will there be a sequel?

I would be delighted if these two products were the first step and if they laid the foundation for further joint projects. I know that you originally wanted to make shoes at Peg and Awl – maybe someday there will be a Wildling that will help us bring your perfect shoe to life.

That sounds like things are going to remain interesting. We are looking forward to seeing more from both of you and are already so excited about where the journey is heading, dear Margaux and Anna!

  Photographs by @wildling.shoes

Our Bakehouse Collection is comprised of seven useful bags intended to replace common and disposable paper goods.

A trip into the old-country, by to-day's standards, proves to be thoroughly modern. To be sure, it is still quite sensible to bring along your sacks for the produce market and boulangerie as well as one for the frock shoppes.

We invite you to a little time travel...

No. 1 Pastry: A small, simple bag that works well with the other six. This pastry bag is perfect for a morning cookie, pastry, or an afternoon snack!

No. 2 Snack: I imagine this on road trips with pistachios or grapes, pretzels or rice cakes. This snack bag is also perfect for any loose snack fitted for day trips and lunches for little people and big people too!

No. 3 Wine: This one fits a bottle or two. It's also good for olive oil and I am certain, other things. This wine bag – traded at a market and stuffed with two bottles of wine – is perfect for bringing wine home or giving as a gift!

No. 4 Baguette: Quite perfect for just such loaves! No more one timers. Use this on repeat. This baguette bag is perfect for those who frequently fetch baguettes from the local bakery or farmers’ market, or for those bread makers who find the gifting of fresh baked bread irresistible!

No. 5 Bread: For bread bakers, buyers and gifters! This bread bag – scooped up with a delicious loaf of fresh baked bread – is perfect for those who regularly bring a hearty loaf along to a picnic, afternoon adventure, or friendly meeting.

No. 6 Petite Market (Right): Good for lunches, markets, or any other kind of little-thing-shopping. Our Petite Market bag – scooped up with a delicious trio of salads – is perfect for those who share lunch, have a big mid-day appetite or for a visit to your local cheese shoppe.

No. 7 Market (Left): Perfect for every kind of shopping. Our Market bag – actually received with a dress within – is a large shopping bag strong enough to suit whatever your gathering needs may be!

Our zero waste washable cotton bags were made after scouring our city’s best cafes for the most useful shapes in paper bags. These bags are all made from locally sourced 100% cotton canvas, and are therefore washable!