Agnieszka Zoltowski was raised in the Pacific Northwest. An environment that inspires her color palettes and designs. Her driving force is her parents. Immigrants from Poland who are also artists and entrepreneurs. Other fun facts: Loves cat. Is Vegan.
Anne Harill is a wife, mother, jewelry designer, and entrepreneur. She was born in France to parents of French and Italian origin. The upbringing influenced her eclectic tastes. After moving to Cleveland, Anne found her voice in jewelry and made America her home.
Angie Garcia started Milk and Honey in a tiny studio with her two best friends. An illustrator and a photographer. The trio channeled their passion for bookmaking into raising awareness for an issue that often gets overlooked. The decline of the bee population.
Adelle Stoll watched in horror as American manufacturing succumbed to overseas mass production in the 70s. She vowed to provide an alternative. Adelle produces in small batches using only recycled materials. Each piece elevated to modern luxury.
Terri Foster, a Chicago native, doesn't believe in sacrificing style in the pursuit of modern, eco-conscious living. All her products are handmade using high-quality ingredients and packaged in recycled containers.
Sherry Lee and her team began their journey curating vintage tableware and decor online. After a couple years, they saw a void in well-designed place card holders. In 2015, they pivoted into a tabletop decor company creating goods for life’s most important occasions.
Nikki Kragiel and crew are furniture design makers. In 2013, they began working on a line of handmade jewelry using the precious off-cuts from furniture manufacturing. Fun facts: Avid multi-taskers. Well-caffeinated.
Jared and Amy are a husband-and-wife team joined by Helen, a long-time friend, and soapmaking partner. Together, the three natives of Portland, Oregon, make small-batch, cold-process soap. And get to pursue their passion for natural perfumery and skincare. How cool..
Damian and Jenn Liddiard are a husband and wife team who met while building a house for a solar design competition. Their line of modern wood jewelry and small home goods combine their backgrounds. Jenn, in jewelry fabrication and Damian, an architect.
Michelle and Jon Simmon, husband and wife team created Slow North after the birth of their son. While pregnant, they became aware of just how many products they used contained synthetic chemicals. Hence a line of beautiful plant-based candles.
Lauren Herzak-Bauman creates work informed by her contemporary art upbringing. Lauren makes public art and private on commission for hotels like the Westin and Hilton. She is influenced by abstract geometric forms found in urban and rural environments.
Sami Jo Jensen began whipping up natural beauty products in 2009 after discovering many of her favorites contained toxic chemicals. Inspired by Mother Nature and infused with floral essences and plant extracts, florapothecarie is 100% natural, vegan, and handmade in Connecticut.
Snap Dragon Fashion creates beautiful handbags with vegan materials. They commit to creating goods without compromise to workers, animals, and communities. And careful to only choose suppliers who source with ethics.
Kate Ackerman is obsessed with the unpredictable nature of hand dyeing. She had her greatest achievements from taking risks and experimenting. Her inspiration is the colorful and interesting patterns that come of her bucket!
Iris Raabe always had a passion for Chinese medicine, herbalism, and aroma. During her pregnancy, Iris started to make skin care products for herself and family. Mona Botanicals was born.
Jessie Stonberg and crew were inspired by 16th century “Strongwater Shops” that served apothecary-style drinks. Their mission is for you to experience expertly crafted mountain elixirs to heal the soul and spruce your cocktails.
Sara Villari created Girls Can Tell with gifts she made for her friends. Sara was still working for an architecture firm at the time. But grew pretty tired of drawing roof flashing details. After a stint at Etsy as a community manager, Sara jumped on to making printed gifts full time in 2009.
Caitlin Rose Ward creates her lines at 8,885 ft elevation in the pristine mountains of Crested Butte, Colorado. Her mission is to make fashion clean and ethical and counter the harm done by fast fashion. Caitlin sources materials locally to reduce the carbon footprint and support local businesses.
Jamie Zimchek is an artist and jewelry designer based in Northwest Florida. Her colorful rope necklaces are often paired with powder coated metal pieces and hand-painted wooden beads. They provide vibrant counterpoints to a minimalist line of gold and silver hand-forged jewelry while making sly reference to her bold oil paintings.
WHAT'S IN STORE
We have exciting things planned to introduce you to our wonderful makers.
Commission Free Sales
Everything you buy here will be commission free. Profits from all sales will support the makers.
Trade Event
For retail store owners, we'll have a trade event coinciding with INDIE on Jan 9-11. Same days as INDIE.
In Store Concierge
Even if the makers aren't at the store, they will have an in store concierge who will relay your thoughts via text and telepathy.
Peak Season Promos
Stay tuned for weekly events that we'll promote via Instagram and Facebook. You will find special deals. Follow the makers on the roster.
Feedback
What do you think of the products. Are they a good fit for you and the SF vibe. We'll provide feedback cards.
whistle sf
Whistle is a concept store in the quaint neighborhood of Inner Sunset of SF. The store was conceived with a mission to bring products from every corner of the world to San Francisco. It's time we started with the nooks and main streets of USA. For the next 3 months (October - December, 2017), we'd love to have you check out the space and share your thoughts with makers from all over America. Check out the details here Featured in the SF Chronicle .
SHOW STAFF
Katie Gaertner
owner
Before opening Whistle, Katie was a buyer at several retail boutiques including San Francisco's beloved store The Gardener. She was also a rep at Keena, the largest rep group on the West Coast and is well connected to buyers in the region. Katie is also advisor for retail strategy on SKUE.
Julie Larson
sales
Julie is seasoned Whistle staff member with a knack for delighting customers. Julie also works at Acacia, one of SF's best home decor boutiques on Valencia St. She has experience selling lines wholesale at trade shows .
Annie May Johnston
sales and social media
Annie is a recent and welcome addition to Whistle. A fine artist and maker, Annie is not only a boss at sales, she's also Whistle's go to person for all things social media.
Sabrina
Manager + Merchandising
A dedicated sales, merchandising and marketing consultant, Sabrina works the magic behind the scenes. She is a talented clothing designer. Her work can be seen at many of the top independent design and maker events when she is not helping out at Whistle.
