By:Stella Liang
Rachel Dempsey never considered herself a creative person. She went to the University of Kansas to study film and when she graduated, she started working as a dental assistant.
As she sat at her kitchen table surrounded by small, colorful beads and half-finished earrings, she said her jewelry design business, Red Designs, just sort of happened.
“I honestly can’t remember how I got started with the beading,” Dempsey said. “It always interested me, doing something creative. I think I just gave it a shot, and it just came naturally.”
Her business reflects a Lawrence, Kan., commitment to making and buying local. Downtown Lawrence is home to many locally owned businesses where unique products are found.
Molly Crook, owner of Essential Goods which sells locally made products, said she estimates there are more 20 stores in downtown Lawrence that carry local work. She said there has been an increase in the number of these stores in the last five years.
Essential Goods carries a variety of products including jewelry, handbags, apparel and candles. Crook said there is a market in Lawrence for local goods because there are many artists in Lawrence and buying their products is a way to support them.
“It also feels good to support local economy and supporting local artisans takes it a step further,” Crook said. “Also, you know what you are getting is most often one of a kind and carries a story along with it, instead of being made in a factory.”
Crook said there are many benefits to buying local including providing jobs for local residents, keeping money in the community and giving back to local businesses. She said locally owned businesses reinvest in the local economy at a 60 percent higher rate than chains and internet retailers.
Dempsey, who owns Red Designs and still works full time as a dental assistant, said she feels the support of the local community.
“It’s really great because so many people here just want to support other local people, and they understand how that enriches the community,” Dempsey said. “They value spending a little bit more to get something from me.”
Dempsey said her biggest goal is to make pieces that are unique and durable. She said what keeps her going and making jewelry is making people happy, and it gives her a gratifying feeling.
Megan Roelofs, creator of Feather Spring Arts jewelry, said she also feels Lawrence’s support. She credits Lawrence for selling her pieces outside of town. The farthest she has sent jewelry is to Sweden, and she said it was because her friend moved there. She said a lot of her expansion is through Lawrence connections.
Roelofs designs jewelry using hand-picked gemstones. She said she goes to gem and mineral shows around the country and crafts the gems into necklaces with leather backings and straps. Each stone is different, and she said part of the fun is to see what she can make work with each individual stone.
Like Dempsey, Roelofs has a full-time job. She is an occupational therapist who five years ago decided to start experimenting with jewelry design. She said she first made some pieces for herself and her family. She said she sold some pieces in Kansas City, and she had so much fun she kept doing it.
Now she sells her pieces in local stores around town including Essential Goods, Nomads and Blackbird Trading Post. When she has a few pieces, she brings them by the stores.
Crooks, who owns Essential Goods, said buying local is about looking at the big picture and thinking about the quality of the product and the customer service associated with a local product.
Interview with Rachel Dempsey
STELLA LIANG, reporter: Listen to more of my interview with Rachael Dempsey of Red Designs as she explains why she chose to bead and what it was like when she was first starting out.
RACHEL DEMPSEY, jewelry designer: I don’t even know what I was thinking, because it’s so time consuming. I just landed on it. I’m part Native American. I kind of think there is something in me, something just naturally embedded in me.
And also one reason with the beading, I like to know that I’m doing something that not everybody else is doing or can do or has the patience to do, so it’s of nice to have that, I don’t want to say that market cornered, but I have gotten the most response from the beading.
From what I can remember of it, just starting out, it was just fun. It was my only creative outlet, because I never considered myself an artistic person.
It comes down to, I will pick out the colors I want to work with and then with every design, at this point I don’t plan it out, I don’t draw it out or anything I just kind of go and it can be trial and error sometimes. Sometimes I’ve made a whole earring, and I hate it. I will just cut it apart.
Sometimes I will make a new design and then from that design, I will get an idea for another one. It’s kind of a domino effect, a little bit.
LIANG: For Fashion Talk, this has been Stella Liang.
Stella Liang 