Artbeads.com

Who is Artbeads.com? We are a family-run ONLINE-ONLY business that started in our home over 17 years ago. Devin has always been fascinated with the business of business, and even at a young age was developing opportunities that ranged from selling vegetables that he raised himself to building with friends the city's most popular haunted house for Halloween. Being raised by a family of artists, however, he also developed a fine appreciation of design and has always been attached to the artisan community. Cynthia, who is equally involved in the management of Artbeads, has always been passionate about the customer relationship since working in a high-end fashion store in her home country of New Caledonia. It was this very passion that inspired her to build what is now the Artbeads Design Studio, a place where our community of beaders can gather, learn, and inspire others to do the same. So how did Devin, born in New York, find a New Caledonia catch like Cynthia? In Tokyo, of course! Cynthia was there learning the language so that she could better serve her Japanese clientele, while Devin was there working in the financial industry. After six years in the big city, though, they wanted to find a place to settle down and raise a family, and Washington seemed the best place to eventually call home.

How did it all start? On a sunny weekend at a craft show in the bucolic town of Port Gamble, Washington, Cynthia's attention began to turn toward handmade jewelry and Devin was fortunate enough to meet lampwork artist and educator Larry Brickman, who in a one-day lampworking session reignited his enthusiasm for working warm glass. One thing led to another, and within a short period of time Artbeads was born. Starting off small, we procured our initial inventory of beads at auction on eBay. Our first order was, well, from my mom, but shortly thereafter the volume of orders quickly grew and we began to expand beyond the garage and into the room that was supposed to be our daughter's. We knew it was time to dedicate ourselves fully to building this business.

At Artbeads.com, WE LOVE BEADS. Devin has worked with glass ever since he was a kid growing up in Alaska, and Cynthia has been an avid jewelry maker ever since she started getting from Devin lampwork beads in lieu of flowers. This passion for beads exists to this day. Even on vacation, Devin and Cynthia were always on the lookout for beads! You have to love what you're doing for a company to be successful, and they're always coming up with new ways to keep their passion fueled. Scouring the world, from Venice to Thailand, to find new and innovative products, it is their desire to continue providing our customers with the best possible products and service that includes everything from the online experience to the presentation of beads carefully wrapped in our trademark purple tissue paper.

We hope that you enjoy spending time with us.