Welcome to The Local Artisan Guide’s first blog!

The creation of this site and its content have been in development for over a year with its social media starting in November 2015 just to warm readers up to our site and its mission. We are a platform for local artisans who are the antithesis of large couture brands such as Gucci and Prada (although we definitely appreciate and love their product) and we are especially the opposite of the large mass retailers such as H&M, Zara and Gap.

M. Crow & Co. offers an artisanal brand that is off the beaten path but The Local Artisan Guide will highlight their lifestyle brand for you.

We want to shine a light on smaller more artisanal brands and share local knowledge with the individual who seeks to project to the world their individuality by scoffing high end brands and retailers by choosing to shop for unique artisan brands. Our experience with working with the larger brands in a product development capacity had led us to the smaller artisan brands and their incredible stories and craftsmanship that we feel the world needs more of.

Whether its apparel, accessories, footwear, beauty or home decor, The Local Artisan Guide has gathered from around the world information on artisan brands that would take years and much travel to gather on your own. We walked every street, questioned designers, store owners, stylists, people of renowned style and taste of their favorite places to shop and their favorite products. We also rated them by content and price to give the reader more information on these smaller artisanal brands.

Yoya in the West Village provides a lifestyle brand for your children that will make you wish you were a child again.

The Local Artisan Guide is on a mission to provide a bigger audience and platform for smaller to mid-size artisan brands that have a real story, unique designs, ideas and craftsmanship that is missing from larger brands and retailers. Unlike other sites we will not be focusing on hotels, restaurants and bars. We will have The Local Artisan Food Guide that will highlight artisanal aspects of the food industry. We will also partner up with other sites in the future for art and culture.

Besides interviews with artisans we will also be highlighting some of the pros and cons of being a local artisan from; owning unique items that are made in small batches under excellent craftsmanship to design theft, sustainable production, the benefits of adding to your micro-economy by shopping local, shopping responsibly and many other topics.

In the coming months the site will launch with New York City being our first city to experience our mission statement. We will follow up with London and other national cities along the way know for their artisanal products. We hope in a few years to conquer the world (or at least help make it more stylish). There will be an app that will help you filter out the local artisans in the areas of the world you are visiting, videos, publications and even an online store in the future containing our special finds from around the globe. However bear with us as we start to grow and expand to other cities. We are always open to suggestions and comments from our readers and welcome it.

So whether its tailored shirts in Hong Kong, small leather goods in London, home decor in Paris or fashion forward design in New York, we did the leg work for you and have developed a guide that will make you feel like you are shopping like a local.