Reno Treasures - Sandy and Paul
by Paul Mattson
(Reno, NV)
My name is Paul and I have been fortunate enough to be associated with my wife for almost 35 years in business, family and now designer jewelry.
Sandy Hirsch is her name and like many artists she has a creative mind that rarely sleeps. Her gifts are many - from creating a nutritional meal from scratch that a household of children will enjoy, to selling flooring for a large company owned by Warren Buffett, her mind is wired to visualize and create something that others don't see.
Her grasp for color combinations that would look good in a customer's home and her ability to ask the right questions has allowed her to be a top salesperson in interior design.
At home in the studio, her exquisite designs with jewelry can be used for all occasions and it is not uncommon for Sandy to put in a full day at work, then come home and make a necklace-bracelet and a pair of earrings and read a book before retiring for the evening.
Like many artists, sleeping is not a priority and for Sandy, getting the most out of life is what keeps her happy.
It all started from a ceramic class we took together working with clay at the local college.
Her creativity and hand-eye coordination allowed her to flow with some psychic gift and turn a lump of clay into an elephant or turtle, a bust of Elvis Presley and Buddhas. Watching her work and putting a personality into the faces of each piece - bringing them to life, was an extraordinary experience.
I was never far from the process because in all of the years we've been together I've wanted to be near her greatness. You could sense the flow from something that was good and spiritual... Glowing and soft. It was like living in heaven on earth - everything she touched had a voice.
We started to enter contests at art shows from Mendocino to Sacramento in California and the first place ribbons began to roll in. But we were running out of room.
The kiln and work table somehow made it between the bedroom and the bathroom. The kitchen cabinets housed the final product, and when the grandkids visited we needed to put the glazes out of reach from inquiring little hands.
About this time a flyer arrived in the mail from Morgan Hill, California, inviting us to participate in a one-week outdoor festival extravaganza with live music, plenty of food and 100,000 people milling about in the great outdoors.
It was called the "MUSHROOM MARDI GRAS" and we thought if we created hundreds of mushrooms out of clay, glazed them in different colors, added gold, silver and other filler pieces, and charged a whole lot of money - we could have some fun with people and make a little money on the side. We did and it was a big hit, but physically it was very taxing.
After having our eyes opened at other ways to perform art and make money, we started having home parties at a friend's home and she would host it with friends of hers while we did presentations and sold jewelry while everyone ate. It being a small town, however, we ran out of friends and moved to Reno, Nevada with a vision and a refined product that doesn't include mushrooms.
Today we have hundreds of units that are all originals by "Sandy" but can be duplicated...
THE JOURNEY HAS BEEN GOOD BUT IF FEELS AS THOUGH WE HAVE JUST BEGUN...
Our business is RenoTreasures@Yahoo.com, and we welcome you to participate in our future growth!
Paul and Sandy
Reno Treasures
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