Handmade Haven opens in Brunswick; shares work of local vendors

BRUNSWICK — Walking inside Handmade Haven in Brunswick, visitors can expect the smell of essential oils and wood, followed by seeing a range of handmade products made by artisans from Northeast Ohio. Handmade Haven is located inside the German Business Center at 3511 Center Road. Owner Ashley Esser opened her doors on March 6 and for the past two weeks has worked on raising awareness of her business in the community. To welcome Handmade Haven to Brunswick, the Northern Medina County Chamber Alliance held a ribbon-cutting celebration Thursday with members of the chamber and city officials including Council-at-Large Tim Smith and Brunswick Mayor Ron Falconi present. "We want to thank you and welcome you," said Debbie Boehmke, the alliance's executive director. "… We are here for you and we're here to support you." Falconi presented Esser with multiple proclamations, one from the county commissioners and one signed by him to proclaim her new business. Falconi told her that both Brunswick and Medina County as a whole are business-friendly communities. "Handmade Haven represents community growth, creating opportunities and revitalization in the city of Brunswick and whereas it provides amazing items made by local artisans," Falconi said, reading from his proclamation. Throughout Handmade Haven, shelves are set up to give approximately 50 local vendors their own personal space to share their items. Products range from wine glasses with funny sayings on them to paint-your-own cookies to customized earrings. One of the vendors is Taylor, a 9-year-old who sells her paintings. On her stand sits a little sign introducing herself and saying, "My favorite thing to do when I'm bored is art." Along with the other vendors, Esser sells some of her own things in the shop including T-shirts, wood signs, drinkware and more. "(I do) pretty much a little bit of everything," Esser said. Before creating Handmade Haven, Esser sold her products in different shops outside the Brunswick area. After coming across the open space, Esser and her husband jumped into remodeling the space into their own. Over a three-week period, walls were torn down with assistance from their boys, the ceiling was reinstalled, and shelving came in. Being from Brunswick, Esser felt it was time to bring something to share local vendors' work in the area. "I just thought Brunswick needed something like this," Esser said. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.