Creative Spirit

FARM TO TABLE DINNER IN GALLATINListen to live music while sampling delicious fare made with locally-grown ingredients at this annual September soiree in Sumner County, which regularly sells out.

ME AND MRS. JONESDiscover locally-made décor and gifts, or get everything you need to make your own—including instruction—at this DIY boutique and working studio with two locations: Cooper-Young in Memphis and Germantown.

Social Graces s @TNVacation Nashville and Gatlinburg hold very special places in my heart! — Gravel-Roadin’ Guru, twitter.com/tnvacation

Since I moved back to Tennessee four years ago, many things have changed about Nashville and its surroundings: booming restaurants, new residents migrating from the coasts, the music scene evolving beyond country. But few things are as noticeable as the impact the maker community has had on the creative landscape.

From Sideshow Sign Co.’s whimsical marquees to Mitchell Bat Co.’s heritage- inspired hand-painted baseball bats, Tennessee’s skilled artisans do it all: HollerDesign makes wooden furniture (and biscuit boards!), Colonel Littleton owns the leather market and Hatch Show Print—with its collection of vintage concert posters— reigns as one of the country’s oldest letterpress shops. Many sell their wares out of the Omni Nashville Hotel’s Five and TENN or East Nashville’s Welcome Home. Social enterprise company Thistle Stop Café carries its farm’s line of homemade goods, like soaps and candles, to benefit women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction.

Fort Houston houses a myriad of makers’ studios, but the best time of year to find them all in one place is Porter Flea, a pop-up handmade market every June and December. Many also have a regular presence at the Nashville Flea Market, held one weekend each month.

Writer Kristin Luna is co-editor of Nashville Lifestyles magazine and blogs about her Tennessee travels at CamelsAndChocolate.com.

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