Not everything that becomes part of an artistic collection belongs on a wall or inside a song.
Some things are meant to be held.
That was the thought behind the Storehouse for I Am What Remains.
I wanted the physical pieces of this collection to feel connected to the story, not simply like merchandise created to accompany it.
Some of them come from creative practices that have been part of my life for years.
Some represent the things that helped shape this collection.
And some are simply objects that felt like they belonged in the world I was creating.
Soap has been one of the foundations of my creativity since 2015.
Long before I Am What Remains existed, making/selling soap gave me a place to create something tangible with my hands. It is one of those creative practices I continue to return to, even as the things I make around it change.
Candles and wax melts have become much the same.
They are another creative language I have returned to over the years, one built around scent, atmosphere, memory, and the simple experience of making something that changes the feeling of a space.
For this collection, those familiar forms became part of something new.
The leather journal felt different.
That one belonged directly to the quieter side of this collection.
Writing became such an important part of the journey, putting thoughts onto paper, working through things, keeping pieces of myself somewhere outside my own head.
A journal felt like the natural physical companion to that part of the story.
And the bookmark came with it.
A small thing, perhaps, but one that made sense beside the journal.
Something to mark a place.
To return to a page.
To remind us that we don't always have to finish the story all at once.
And then there is the apparel.
That piece of the Storehouse carries a story that isn't entirely mine.
My husband has been the creative one behind T-shirts for years, designing and making them throughout different seasons of our lives.
So including apparel in this collection felt like another way of acknowledging that creativity doesn't always happen alone.
Sometimes the things we make become part of a shared life.
Sometimes one person's creativity becomes woven into another person's story.
That's what I wanted the Storehouse to hold.
Not souvenirs.
Not simply things with a name printed on them.
Pieces of the creative life behind the collection.
Things made by hand or selected with intention.
Things returned to over the years.
Things that hold a memory, serve a purpose, or simply make an ordinary moment feel a little more intentional.
Because if I Am What Remains is about the pieces of ourselves that endure, then perhaps these things are part of that idea too.
The creative practices I keep returning to.
The words I continue to write.
The people whose creativity has become part of my own story.
These are the things we carry forward.
And now, they have a place here.
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