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HESTIA CREATIONS: SCULPTING MOMENTS IN TIME

 * Posted by:
 * Brenda Kelley Kim on 8th Jan







WorthPoint’s “Real People, Real Places, Real Fun!” series spotlights fascinating
collectors, resellers, dealers, and more in the antiques and collectibles world.
Read their stories to discover the who, what, when, where, and why behind what
they do!

The Hestia Creations studio and showroom is located in Marblehead,
Massachusetts. Its hand-painted ornaments are one-of-a-kind and loved
nationwide.
Photo courtesy: Hestia Creations

While many of us have packed away the Christmas ornaments for another year,
ornaments (and so much else) are on display year-round at a tiny company in the
small seaside town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. For over thirty years, Hestia
Creations has been creating heirloom ornaments and other figurines for cities,
churches, schools, and businesses. Each year, collectors wait anxiously for the
studio’s new pieces.

Hestia was a Greek goddess of home and hearth, and the studio takes its name
from her. The art created by the studio includes tableware, village building
scapes, décor, and ornaments.


WHEN DID HESTIA CREATIONS LAUNCH?

The business began in 1986 when founder and artist Linda MacDonald created bread
dough Christmas ornaments. At that time, women in town, primarily mothers with
young children, painted the decorations in their homes. MacDonald sold the
ornaments at local craft fairs, church sales, and the annual Marblehead
Christmas Walk. MacDonald sold the business in 2005 to Joanne D’Alessandro, who
runs it today from the cozy studio in Marblehead.

The ornaments became so popular that the studio started making them in a more
durable medium of Hydrostone, eventually moving to resin-bonded marble dust. In
1990, Hestia Creations created its first Marblehead Christmas ornament, and it
still issues a new local ornament annually. Residents flock to the studio shop
in Marblehead every fall to get the latest design to add to their collections.

WorthPoint spoke to D’Alessandro and her colleague Ellie Schnabel Doyle, the
studio jack-of-all-trades and COO, about the company and why its pieces are so
collectible.

Hestia Creations also produces custom ornaments for cities, churches, schools,
and businesses.


WHERE ARE THEY?

While residents love the company, its artwork and creations are not limited to
Marblehead scenes. Other organizations, from libraries and schools to hospitals
and churches across the US, have commissioned designs from Hestia Creations for
its ornaments, called “AmeriScapes.”

One of their clients, Country Gourmet of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, has Hestia
create a yearly signature ornament for their company. The theme is a closely
guarded secret until the unveiling party held in early November on Main Street
in Historic Murfreesboro. The ornament is always a local building, park, or
monument; collectors wait all year to see the newest addition. Additionally, the
ornaments are always limited editions; when they are gone, they are gone, so
hundreds of customers mob the unveiling party each year.

Inspired by that city’s practice of unveiling the year’s chosen ornament, Hestia
threw an unveiling party for its 2023 creation, depicting the local lobstering
industry. Dan Dixey, a photographer, archivist, author, and filmmaker, made a
documentary on the fleet of Marblehead lobster boats. The film’s release
coincided with the ornament debut, and it was a mighty party at the studio
celebrating two iconic industries.

Because most of its ornaments are limited editions ranging from five hundred to
two thousand pieces, Hestia Creations doesn’t create more once a particular
design sells out. The ornaments are also signed and numbered for authenticity.
An official mark from the creators makes some of them highly sought after by
collectors. My tree fell over one Christmas, and several of mine broke into
bits. I was lucky that some of them were still available, but I did have to hunt
up two or three on online auction sites.

Every year, customers flock to Hestia Creations for its annual Marblehead
ornament. Many homes in the town boast the complete collection, which began in
1990.


HOW ARE THEY MADE?

The process for making a Hestia creation has changed a few times over the years.
Bread dough and Hydrostone were not especially durable, and the demand for
commission orders and local work grew. The current process of creating an
AmeriScape ornament starts with a design concept. It could be as simple as a
seaside landscape or something more specific like a historic building or event.

The company begins with a prototype made from sketches or photos. The company’s
first sculptor, Linda D’Addario, was one of the first women hired to paint the
pieces. She grew with the company and was responsible eventually for the
complete process from design to finished product. She is no longer at the
studio, and owner Joanne D’Alessandro told WorthPoint, “It took us three years
to find someone who could conceive, design, and sculpt an ornament for
production. No one does this kind of work now.”

A vintage Murfreesboro, Tennessee, ornament made by Hestia Creations was sold at
auction for $515 in 2022, compared to the original price, which was about $30 in
1998.

Once the design is sculpted, Hestia Creations makes four prototypes with plaster
of Paris: two painted and two unpainted ones for molding. The studio then ships
them to its production partner in Mexico, where workers create a mold and cast
them in resin-bonded marble dust, which is strong and durable to make the
ornaments lifelong keepsakes.

Artists at the production location then hand-paint the pieces to match the
prototype.

Ornaments are finished by hand in Marblehead, and the nativity figures get
special attention as well. Ellie Schnabel Doyle told WorthPoint, “They’re
incredibly detailed; even the tiniest element, like buttons on a coat or a cloth
hat, are done as realistically as possible. They arrive back to us in a state we
call naked and bald. In addition to paint, mixed media details like clothing,
trim, and other accents are added by the artists in the Marblehead studio.”

D’Alessandro said she had a small business advisor as a mentor when she first
bought the business. When she explained the process of creating the pieces, he
said, “You have a 19th-century business model operating in the 21st century. I
give you a lot of credit.”


WHAT ELSE DO THEY MAKE?

While the ornaments are the signature item for which the studio is known, there
are many other items, and the most collectible of them is arguably the Companion
Nativity Set. Each year, Hestia Creations adds one piece and retires one, so
collectors who might have missed a piece must search online or in antique and
vintage stores to find what they need.

  A weaver, part of the Companion Nativity Set, comes with actual woven wool on
a loom and other tools of the trade.
Photo courtesy: Brenda Kelley Kim

The nativity pieces fetch the highest prices, largely because of the details in
each figurine. Animals have wicker carrying baskets on them, and shepherds and
others wear hand-made robes and clothing the artists attach. The set has the
distinction of being included in an exhibit of museum-quality nativity sets at
the International Marian Research Center of the University of Dayton.

Hestia Creations also makes hand-painted plates, cups, giftware, and a line of
figures called “VillageScapes” depicting local pubs, restaurants, and historic
buildings.

Hestia has no plans to stop making the ornaments and other items and has added
space for paint-your-own pottery activities for families and children, studio
classes, and take-home kits. D’Alessandro said that the community is a vital
part of the business, and she believes they might be one of the few shops in the
area that makes everything they sell. The Hestia Studio and showroom is located
at 13 Hawkes Street in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Be sure to put a visit to the
shop on your bucket list!

  A workbench at the Hestia Creations Studio shows how the artists complete the
pieces with trim elements that complement the design.
Photo courtesy: Brenda Kelley Kim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brenda Kelley Kim lives in the Boston area. She is the author of Sink or Swim:
Tales From the Deep End of Everywhere and writes a weekly syndicated column for
The Marblehead Weekly News/Essex Media Group. When not writing or walking her
snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard sales, flea markets, and badminton.

WorthPoint—Discover. Value. Preserve.


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