Liz Lavoie was cutting up a bright pink cashmere sweater on Saturday afternoon at a new mercantile in Olema that opened the first weekend of May. Ms. Lavoie turns hole-ridden cashmere clothing into mosaic-like scarves, throws, ponchos, hats and baby blankets. “I’m crazy for cashmere,” she explained.
The new shop, simply called The Shop, sells her creations (which also include patched-up 19th century nightgowns and jewelry made from subway tokens and typewriter keys), wares made or repurposed by three other artists who created the shop, and goods made by other artisans and wholesalers.
There are clothes and knickknacks aplenty at The Shop: bells, lavender sachets, candles, candle holders, vintage overalls, cowboy boots, a tiny sewing machine and African serapes, to name a few. The creators of the shop—Ms. Lavoie, Val Yandell, Michele Schwartz and Jane Brooks, who all live in Fairfax or San Anselmo—used to run The Garage, in Fairfax. It was run out of an actual garage and sold similar vintage or repurposed wares. The cohort moved to Olema when their month-to-month lease was not renewed, but Ms. Lavoie said the new place feels like a step forward. “It was kind of a beautiful jumble there,” she said of The Garage.
The Shop, by contrast, is more curated and cohesive, she went on, carrying fewer one-off pieces and more small collections. For instance, prints of chickens and flowers made by Sirima Sataman—who opened a printmaking shop in Point Reyes Station last year—decorate silk scarves, cards and dish towels for sale. Ms. Lavoie also sells a series of signs she makes from 1930s wooden grape trays. Some sport the colorful print of a cow or an elk. Others display short messages in cursive, like “The Big O: Olema, California.”
The Shop is open Friday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 9960 Shoreline Highway, in Olema.