“I started seeing it, the healing power you had often talked about. Your store brought into focus a collective ‘we’ a global 'us,’ exchanging expressions, visions, and cultures with one common desire to lift each other up.”
We are so touched to share that Pure Art’s origin story has been featured in Bella Grace the always artistic “magazine that thinks it’s a book.”
The article entitled “The Lightkeeper” traces the opening of the first boutique on Hudson’s Main street and explores the driving force behind its mission. It also touches on the store’s Lightkeeper bracelet, launched as a token of light in what was, for the store’s owners, a moment of darkness. In a letter format from son to mother, the article opens by asking whether art can really heal the world, a statement that Pure Art’s founders had impressed upon their five young children.
More than a decade has passed since the opening of Pure Art. The store has been welcomed by the most supportive community who have made it what it is today and who have carried us through the most challenging circumstances. Throughout these years, we as a store, a family, and a team, have been fueled by the conviction that yes, art can heal the world.
As the article states, the store is “filled it with objects from around the world, all fair-trade certified and purpose-driven…dresses handwoven by women in Afghanistan and Pakistan…shining dishware from Syrian glassblowers… felt dolls created by artisans in India support[s] a program to protect their native snow leopards. The boutique became…a hub for the world’s dreams, and everyone who walked in your store felt it. These weren’t mere products. They were someone’s inner magic stitched, forged, or woven into life and given a platform among the shelves.”
This is a reality that is easy to forget: that the products we buy are not just things. They are extensions of human beings. They exist because someone dreamed them up. The proceeds they generate, in fair circumstances, go back to their creators and allow entire families to thrive. But in this equation, a fundamental player is you. The purchaser who takes the time to read the story behind the product. To feel the hands that made it even if you cannot hold them or see them. So thank you, to everyone who has ever popped into the boutique, for shopping consciously.
Seeing our story published was yet another reminder of how the entirety of a store’s success rests upon its community. So if we can proudly state today that we are, with every sale, healing the world in increments, it is because of you.
**Take a look at the full article here to appreciate the breadth of your impact.