Candice Wagener
Dishes from Zeller Keramic are part of the carefully curated objects at Forget Me Not.
Several years ago, when she was working as a dinnerware designer in Florence, Italy, Beth Rhodehamel visited one of the local, third-generation-owned ceramic factories. Workers there showed her the samples they had created for a large U.S. retailer, which had then turned around and shipped the samples to Asia and ordered cheap mass reproductions.
Candice Wagener
Beth Rhodehamel and some of the shop's fabrics. Can you spot the custom chandelier?
“It just seemed sad,” says Rhodehamel, who felt strongly that, if she ever owned her own business, she would buy directly from the companies she had always liked and worked with.
She began saving business cards from trade shows she attended in Italy, from companies all over the world, and in 2013, she opened up Forget Me Not Studio on Monroe Street to share some of her favorite wares with others.
The store is an eclectic collection of home goods. Featured dinnerware designs have a colorful hand-painted, Old World look, as do table linens. Soaps and candles ($11-$60) are joined by animal artwork like ceramic koalas. Punchy paintings of elegant and friendly badgers — which Rhodehamel painted herself — adorn the walls. There’s also a scattering of restored chandeliers, another hobby of Rhodehamel’s.
Candice Wagener
Whimsical badger paintings by shop owner Beth Rhodehamel.
Prices are reasonable, usually under $100. “I want people to be able to afford things,” Rhodehamel says.
She also offers interior design services. In fact, the success of her design business, coupled with her desire to spend more time at home with her kids, has led to her decision to close Forget Me Not in March 2016 when her lease expires.
However, Rhodehamel and associate Barb Mueller (the woman behind Sew Fine Designs and the custom window treatments and cushions that Forget Me Not sells) will not be leaving retail entirely. They have already launched what they call the Pop Up Design Collective at the Monroe Street Arts Center just about every other Sunday from 1 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s less a typical craft market than a showcase for Rhodehamel and Mueller’s collections as well as other home goods and jewelry.
Forget Me Not Studio 2623 Monroe St. in Knickerbocker Place, 608-233-7560, bethrhodehamel.com, Summer hours Wed.-Sat., 11 am-5 pm
