Some Peg and Awl Updates

We have been working away on a lot of different projects here at the Peg and Awl workshop, and we are excited to share a few of them with you…

We now offer FREE shipping on all U.S. orders!

Enjoy shopping our site without the stress and mystery of shipping costs!

Refreshed Marlowe Lunch Bags

Just in time for back to school, we did a little update on the Marlowe Lunch Bag – now all vegan with a fabric tag! Perfect for work, school, and day trips, fill ’em up with lunch, snacks and a little note for your love!

The Peg and Awl House

After months of transformation, the Peg and Awl House is now open and awaiting your next visit to Philadelphia. A living showroom of all things Peg and Awl, the house is full of furniture, home goods, books and adventure. Check out the Peg and Awl House on Airbnb and book your stay at the place where it all started! And if you have no plans to visit Philadelphia, we hope you will find inspiration – and sneak peeks of our upcoming furniture – in the photographs!

NEW Furniture Collection Coming Soon!

It’s been a long time coming, but there are only a few more weeks before we launch the very first line of Peg and Awl furniture! We are bursting with excitement to share…

Other Things in the Works

Tomes (large journals that Margaux always uses!), sketchbooks, wooden painter’s palette, new waxed canvas colour, and one of a kinds! We have been working tirelessly on these to make them perfect and they will be launching soon – stay tuned!

The transformation of our former Fishtown, Philadelphia home and studio space into The Peg and Awl House is complete! Each room contains Peg and Awl treasures for guests to enjoy during their stay, including our first official furniture collection which will be available in the fall!

Our 3 Story Victorian Wonder was built in 1855 and has undergone many changes and identities over the years.

In the 1920s it was the home of a bootlegger – the elegant front staircase embraces a small hole for the tap of a barrel still hidden in the basement rafters to house the illicit hooch. After prohibition, a new couple moved in who would later give birth to Fishtown’s Boo Radley. The house was then divided into apartments. Boo (who was over 6ft tall and wore all black) lived in the front room (now the library) when he was older and his parents had passed.

In 1985, The House was purchased by a high school woodshop teacher who trash picked historic doors and windows considered garbage by the neighbors who dumped them, and plucked treasures from the many abandoned houses that peppered the neighborhood. He used his finds to restore it closer to its former – albeit frankensteined with the well-worn once scattered parts – self.

In 2007, I came into the picture with the intention (pre-Airbnb) of travelling the world via house-swap on Craigslist. That plan stopped before it began when I met Walter a month later and we began dreaming together. He moved in within a week of our first encounter and the House became our Home – where we raised Søren and Silas and started Peg and Awl.

Twelve years later, The House that inspired so many of the objects that we make, from our kitchen collection to our stationery collection, has been transformed it into a Peg and Awl world that we are excited to share with all of you!

The Library featuring the Foundlings Collection	The Master Bedroom featuring the Stationery Collection

The Kitchen featuring the Kitchen Collection	The Bathroom featuring the Bath Collection

The Study featuring the Waxed Canvas Tote	The Second Bedroom featuring the Weekender

How do you spend your long hot summer days?

For me, I’m home, mostly – outside sitting in a folding chair with the cold creek water chilling my feet, sketching and dreaming, or walking along the wildflower-lined roads, stopping to draw and nibble upon the many new plants in my life.

When I’m not outside, it’s another day in the studio, stealing another moment at my desk to write and draw in my journals and sketchbooks. Summer is for gathering ideas and inspiration, and I adore these slow times.

Where will you take your leaving this summer?

Sendak Mini Artist Roll	Beatrix Artist Caddy

Anselm Bookbinding Kits	Foundlings Desk Caddy

Landis Wall Caddy	Handbound Journals

Rainer Maria Rilke

“All things want to fly.
Only we are weighed down by desire,
caught in ourselves
and enthralled with our heaviness.”

We love spending our days outdoors. Whether we are exploring the ocean, hiking through the woods, or sketching in the park, we are sure to have our Peg and Awl bags close at hand. Handmade by our small team of skilled craftspeople in our workshop in Philadelphia, each bag is constructed with durable waxed canvas and sustainably-sourced vegetable tanned leather. They are perfect for toting all your summer adventure essentials. So load ’em up and go exploring!

The Seaside Tote	The Sendak Artist Roll

Waxed Canvas Tote	The Finch Satchel

Weekender	Olde-Fashioned Tree Swing

For most of my life I’ve carried things to keep me occupied – often in the form of books. They offered entertainment when I was stuck in a line or arrived somewhere early – which I always did. I was pleased to be lost in a story or scribbling in a journal – unaware of the wait.

When the idea for The Sendak took hold, I was excited at the thought of bringing more organized ‘things to do’ on outings.

After a year of Sendak making and many requests, we decided to make a Sendak Mini! Since then, we’ve been cutting and stitching both Sendaks all day long. I am often asked which is my favourite...

The Classic If you are a colour lover who always has to add just one more to the take pile, the classic Sendak is the one for you! Plus you can fit sketchbooks, watercolour sets and more. The classic Sendak can carry either a light load or heavy haul!	The Mini If you are a minimalist who likes to keep your life simple and organized, I’d suggest the mini. The pens slots are slightly wider, and can fit fountain pens, as well as your old standbys. And it rolls as well as it folds!

In the Wild

We’ve been delighted to see everyone sharing their Sendaks in the wild and are psyched to share some of the amazing artists + makers who have put theirs to good use!

Don’t forget to #pegandawl so we can share yours!

Mini Sendak by Andrea Durfee @andreadurfee	Sendak Mini by Greenleaf & Blueberry @greenleafblue

Classic Sendak by papermademedoit @papermademedoit	Mini Sendak by Catharine Mi-Sook @catharinemisook

Mini Sendak by Art Suitcase @artsuitcase	Classic Sendak by Kyle Hilton @kylehiltonillo

I wandered out to treasure hunt Memorial Day morning before the heat became too oppressive. The breeze was blowy and the clouds were bright and the gruff unvoice of Tom Waits spilled out of the speakers and mixed with the wind like days of old. I found some delightful treats (despite the wreckage of the market I so long ago frequented) including some old tins, antique pencils, and these glorious little Japanese scarves from the 1920s made from previously used textiles—some of which are rumoured to be old(er) diapers! (I purchased these from a woman from whom I have bought many a-treasure from over the years!) I absolutely adore these and may have to keep one as a scarf for myself.

I am looking forward to transforming them into something else and filling up our Of A Kind Section!

We are psyched to be included in this month’s Where Women Create magazine which features a story about Margaux and Peg and Awl! Pick up your copy on the Where Women Create website.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Margaux Kent (@pegandawl) on May 16, 2019 at 4:07pm PDT

Last December, just before Christmas, we found ourselves huddled together on blow-up mattresses in the dark. There was no power and the temperature was below freezing in our new home, located in the the country-ish, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Walter and I either jump into things, or we completely overthink until we agonize. I prefer the jumping in, as that is there where magic is.

We looked at 3 houses with the idea of maybe moving, and within 35 days, we were shivering in our new 18th century living room.

But this isn’t about the 5 Acre Wood in West Chester, or chickens, honeybees, wild plants, or birdsong. Nor is it about the 5 goslings that were just born on the island at the center of our pond! This is about our house in Philadelphia that we’ve been fixing up since we hastily departed last winter.

We are transforming our former home and studio space in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia to the Peg and Awl House, which will be available for rent, come summer. The house was built in the 1850s and was a bootlegger’s home. You can still see the barrel in the basement ceiling and the hole in the steps from where a tap once was! Having lived there for eleven years, we’d slowly transformed the charming row house into a Peg and Awl home, incorporating reclaimed wood throughout the house and chalkboards from an old school into heated kitchen floors, as well as Apothecary Cabinets, built in bookcases, and (coming soon!) Peg and Awl furniture from tables to beds!

We will partner with local artisans to fill the house with handmade sundries, including everything from dishes and dishtowels to ice cream and beer. And the house, of course, will be full of Peg and Awl treasures of the past and future. Fishtown is the perfect neighborhood to visit, balancing history and modernity; it is full of amazing restaurants, bars, and shopping. We are looking forward to sharing our space with others, along with sharing our favourite things to do in Philadelphia!

And of course, we cannot wait to stay there with Søren and Silas. We dream of dinner and movie nights and walks in our already too-distant neighborhood.

We will share updates, but for now, here is a Sneak Peek from when our house was featured in Design Sponge in 2012!

Signup for our newsletter to keep up with the updates!

May the adventures begin...

Last weekend found us in a freshly plowed field of amethysts rising toward the surface, and within a few hours our Hunter Satchels were brimming with earthly magic. Once home, we spread our loot out at our feet and washed away the mud. Like archeologists we examined each piece, drew our favorite specimens, and recorded our day’s excitement in our journals. (Read the full story of our adventure on our blog!)

Whether your spring adventures find you in the field or at your desk, we’ve got you covered!

Small Hunter Satchel	Foundlings Small Desk Caddy: Sage
Foundlings Harper Journal: June	Botanical Dandelion Ring
Olde Fashioned Tree Swing	The Sendak Mini Artist Roll

     There is something about unearthing a thing with your own dirty paws that transforms the simplest of objects into pure magic.

     As we drove past Amish farms and families, on our way to the Amethyst Field (part of a private Amish farm) in Lancaster early Saturday morning in post-rain-perfection, my mind wandered to The Foundlings Collection that we were launching 3 hours from then. We passed horses and buggies, families dressed in black and white, and a very tiny Mennonite school established in the 1800s. Everything was simple and beautiful and open, and the earth smelled clean and loved. It could have been 1919—except for our car and Aldous Harding singing. As we wandered through the Amish community I wondered if any parents or grandparents of the very people we were passing had painted any of the animals and plants and creatures we were celebrating, since they were made 100+ years ago, in this very area. I wanted to ask someone, but I thought it would be intrusive, so we passed through.

     We arrived at the farm that glorious overcast morning and parked in the alfalfa field by the Delaware Mineralogical Society's makeshift cardboard sign. When we stepped onto the freshly plowed and rained-upon field with our antique tools (which had been left in our new old house by the family before us, or the family before them), the earth fairly sparkled with purple gems—but we didn’t see them yet. First you must clear your expectations, then comes a finding, and soon enough, you can’t not see them. Within a few hours our Hunter Satchels were brimming with earthly magic: Amethyst, Smokey Quartz, regular Quartz, Feldspar, and mystery minerals.

     We gathered with some families from Open Connections and within a few hours everyone was sitting in the muddy fields chattering and inspecting their finds. By the time the sun broke through the clouds, Søren and Silas were thirsty and hungry, so we walked back to the alfalfa field where they sat in the trunk of the Subaru and ate lunch. I headed back to the field to retrieve a forgotten antique and found a few groups of determined treasure hunters who remained, one of which found the biggest Amethyst of the day—had Amethyst fever, and couldn't stop searching. Another group was digging a trench that looked more intentional than the rest of the holes scattered throughout the field. I asked about their digging—it turns out they are part of the Friends of Mineralogy, Penna Chapter, and, like so many geologists and rock lovers we’ve encountered, they were happy to share their knowledge. They told me about saddles and folds and intersecting ditches, but, being foundationless in this complex science, the information trickled through me like the dirt through so many sieves that morning.

     I returned to Søren and Silas, who were not bored as I feared, but hanging out with the other boys. We set off for home, covered in dirt, (after stopping for ice-cream of course) where we were greeted by Walter, also covered in dirt (from our garden-to-be) who photographed us as we tooth-brushed our finds.

Postscript: I posted this on Instagram @thebrotherskent and on FB and received a lot of questions (public and private) about the site. This is private land, and the family was kind enough to share it. I would recommend you look into mineralogical societies near you. There are chapters all over the US, and they are amazing resources! The PA and DE chapter cost $25 per family for a year. There are many field trips and educational meetings. Links are above!