Why I Work

Today a customer who has been purchasing from us for sometime told me why she works. She works to make money to send her daughter to camp. Most of our customers aren’t huge businesses, but they are the backbone of all societies, the small business. The mom who works to be able to afford a special vacation, or needed therapy for her kids.

For some it is the simply joy of creating beautiful jewelry, of starting with a length of wire or ear wires and designing a piece as a gift, to sell or just for themselves. I am always amazed at our customer’s creativity.

Then I thought about Why I Work….And it is pretty similar. This will never be a company traded on the stock market, it will never be an investment by a VC. But it has given me and my family a wonderful life. A life where my son worked with me. Where my grandchildren have grown up riding their tricycles through the rows of beads, and 18 years later they have worked in the summers picking beads, counting beads. A place and space for us to enjoy each other, to make lunch for all of us, just like our bead makers do.

I fell in love with Murano Glass and Venice and above all the people of these islands. And they became our family. So many of them are women whose mothers taught them to make beads and they take pride in their work, always creating new designs for us and our customers. It is a full circle as our customers create designs that make their customers happy.

I work long hours, piecing together technology for our website, writing blogs, making photographs, editing the website and adding products. WHY?

Well to support my love of Venice. To be able to wander the small streets and courtyards, to pop into a bar and have a cappuccino. To meet friends on the street and share an “ombra” (a little glass of wine). To see the amazing sunsets, watch the vaporetti come and go, to visit the incredible museums. I walk each morning very early before the tourist wake up. I walk late in the evening after the day trippers have left the city. I go to the top of the bell tower and soak in the view. The beauty of this city gives me peace. The kindness of the people of this city give me hope.

And I hope that the beauty of our Murano Glass beads provides our customers with a little of the same.

Why do you work?