Raider Made

Looking for the perfect birthday present? Perhaps you’re someone who gets your Christmas shopping done especially early. Whatever the occasion, we have some gift ideas to make your life easier, featuring products from businesses established by Northwestern alumni.

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JAVA ROASTER
cherrybean.net | $9–$50

Jennifer (Herlyn ’06) McCormick of Marion, S.D., is the fourth owner of a business started by another Northwestern alum. Originally a customer of the Cherrybean Coffee Company, she now follows roasting instructions passed down from founder Reed Friese ’95 and speaks easily about the best temperatures for flushes and kick outs.

In addition to roasting coffee beans, McCormick and her husband package and deliver their product, and she handles the company’s finances, marketing and ordering. They sell retail, wholesale and direct-to-consumer to customers that include restaurants, grocery stores, churches and a farmer’s market.

McCormick spends time researching the farms and cooperatives that grow the beans she purchases, selecting only certified organic and fair trade coffee. “It’s important to us that the people who grow and harvest the coffee we sell are treated well and paid fairly,” she says. “And because we sell organic coffee, our decaf coffee is decaffeinated with water rather than chemicals.”

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SEW CUTE
thedottedduck.com | $10–$50

Sisters-in-law Kim (Kollasch ’04) and Katie (Kennedy ’07) Doughan started sewing for their families as a way to save money. When friends and acquaintances asked where they could purchase the same outfits for their kids, the two began taking requests. Now their home-based business, The Dotted Duck, features handmade boutique children’s clothing and baby items, as well as women’s totes and scarves.

The work-from-home moms enjoy the creative outlet and flexible hours their Orange City business gives them. They started small, with Katie using her mom’s sewing machine until she had the funds to buy her own. Now they have more than 2,500 Facebook followers. “I think one of the things people like about buying from us is the fact that we’ll do custom orders, using fabric they’ve found,” says Kim. Summer and fall are their busiest seasons as customers prepare for family photos or purchase Christmas dresses and outfits.

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POPPIN’ FRESH
solsma.com | $5–$10

The gourmet Ruby Red popcorn Amy (Langstraat ’91) Solsma sells is one of many items available at the Solsma Punkin Patch near Sanborn, Iowa. The smaller-kernel variety pops bright white with red hull speckles and has a rich, nutty flavor. Amy’s husband, Jay ’92, first proposed growing the variety. “It’s pretty on the ear, has a small, tender kernel, and people have loved it,” she says. Their online sales have reached customers in 28 states.

Solsma grew up on a farm. “We always had a really big garden,” she recalls. “We would plant some pumpkins and set them out by the road with a little sign.” Amy and Jay started the Solsma Punkin Patch in 1999. In addition to popcorn and pumpkins, their business features a corn maze and country store selling local products.

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REPURPOSED
Facebook.com/door2decor | $50–$1,000

The home décor and furniture Tyler Reichle ’08 and his father create is both beautiful and functional. Take a closer look, and you’ll also see it’s crafted from old doors—in some cases, complete with the original knobs and hinges.

Door 2 Décor was established in 2013 after Reichle’s dad, a woodworker, began experimenting with converting doors into shelves, bookcases, mirrors, coat racks and headboards. Reichle, a teacher, enjoys spending time with his father as they work side by side. “Dad does most of the construction,” he says. “I get to do the fun part—the paint, the distressing—and give it the final touch.”

Door 2 Décor products are available in several home décor stores in Iowa and Minnesota. The Sioux Center duo also sells their work at several shows every year, but the majority of their orders are custom-made for people who have their own ideas or requests for a specific stain to fit a room.

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FABRIC BY THE FRAME
tonyasuefolkerts.com | $10–$75

Tonya (Neufeld ’03) Folkerts draws with fabric. The Des Moines artist stitches together vibrant colors and patterns to create folk art that often incorporates Bible verses or inspirational quotes. Her penchant for vintage materials and other pre-used textiles goes back to her first piece. “I was looking for something to put on my wall, and I found one of my grandma’s scarves,” she says. “I realized I could print on fabric, sew it and make a picture.”

Encouraged by a friend, she took part in a trunk show in 2010 and nearly sold out. Now she sells original pieces, prints and cards at art shows. She also does commissions for customers who want her to use something with special meaning for them, like a baby’s onesie or a mother’s tea towel.

“Sometimes my work is inspired by a beautiful piece of fabric, and sometimes there’s a Scripture I need to see,” Folkerts says. Artistic by nature, the theatre grad is grateful for a creative outlet that she recognizes is a gift from God.

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A SENSE OF PLACE
jenniophotography.com/gallery/adventure | $16–$300

Photography and traveling are in Jenni (Sybesma ’09) Ochsner’s DNA. She’s been to 48 states, including Alaska, where she took panoramic photos with her first camera as a 15-year-old.

Ochsner began shooting weddings while still in college and started Jenni O Photography the year before she graduated. In 2013 her business added a new dimension when she began selling landscape and adventure photos as prints and postcards. “We hike to these places that not a whole lot of people see—especially people with cameras that can really document it,” says Ochsner, who is married to Northwestern’s strength and conditioning coach, Kyle Ochsner ’09.

While carrying her camera to the top of a 14,000-foot peak is hard work, Ochsner says it’s worth it. “When I see an amazing picture, I feel like I’m transported there,” she says. “That’s what I want to do for people. I want to bring them somewhere awesome and give them the feeling I had when sitting on top of that mountain.”

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DESIGNING BEAUTY
Etsy.com/shop/SweetJuniperDesigns | $15–$45

Alison Kuglin ’16 traces her interest in designing jewelry back to her childhood and a creative mother who always had projects laying out on the table. “I’ve been playing with beads ever since I could put them on a string,” she says. She began selling her work for the first time while in college, and by the time she was a senior, was known as “the jewelry girl.”

Kuglin gave a name to her business—Sweet Juniper|Designs by Alison—in the summer of 2015, when she lived for a week with a family of artisans who allowed her to display and sell her jewelry in their gallery. Her rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings are handcrafted and feature intricate wire work—a detail-oriented process she enjoys.

Kuglin’s jewelry designs are also available through Vi Bella Jewelry, a company that teaches jewelry-making skills to women in Haiti and Mexico. She joined Vi Bella as its shipping manager when she graduated, but has worked as one of its designers since January.

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TAILOR-MADE
sweetzionpaperie.com | Inquire for prices

Think of Sweet Zion Paperie as a stationery concierge. Sophie (Eicher ’09) Ulibarri of Highlands Ranch, Colo., designs and prints custom tailored stationery for life’s biggest moments, while her husband, Tim ’08, handles the accounting and payroll. Whether it’s letterpress printing, a watercolor painting or something a bit more unusual, it’s a project they’re willing to tackle—with enthusiasm. “We offer custom stationery, logo design and brand development,” says Sophie, “but probably 90 percent of what we do is consultation-based event stationery.”

Ulibarri’s invitations for weddings, baby showers and milestone birthdays are perfectly coordinated, from hand-addressed envelopes to response cards. Typefaces, papers and special touches—like die cuts, embossing, wax seals, foil stamping or ribbon closures—combine to create a unique look for every client. For some events, she also designs matching menus, programs, table place cards or signage.

Ulibarri begins each project by getting to know her clients, their story and what makes them unique. That personalization makes Sweet Zion Paperie distinctive. The opportunity to create beauty and celebrate life’s greatest occasions gives her joy.

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COCOA WITH CULTURE
tasteofplacechocolate.com | $2.50–$10

Grapes aren’t the only crop used to create something with a flavor impacted by the climate and soil where it’s grown. Just as wine has terroir, or a “taste of place,” so do cacao beans, the raw ingredient for chocolate.

Kristin (Spidahl ’09) Mohagen and her husband, Josh, built their business, Terroir Chocolate, on single-origin cacao that preserves the personality of its source. “We get beans from Madagascar, and the chocolate tastes like citrus,” says Kristin. “Beans from Peru—bananas and mango. The flavors are completely different, even though it’s just cocoa beans with a little sugar.”

As one of approximately 60 bean-to-bar craft chocolate makers in the U.S., the Mohagens do their own roasting and grinding. They spend long days in a commercial kitchen in Fergus Falls, Minn., heating the chocolate to the desired texture and color before pouring it into bar molds and then packaging the sweet treats by hand for sale online and in specialty stores.

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SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Etsy.com/shop/beholdanewthing | $15–$45

Old blankets and sweaters are turned into felt Christmas ornaments. Outdated maps, into paper flowers. Pages from a favorite book, into heart-shaped confetti for scattering on a table at a wedding. Heather (Harrison ’87) Northrop chose the name of her business, Behold a New Thing, to reflect what she does with vintage, recycled and reused materials—and what God does in her.

“Everything I sell in my Etsy store was something else,” she says. “I write a note to everyone who purchases from me and include Isaiah 43:19. God is constantly taking what I might consider to be trash and making something beautiful and useful out of it.”

Northrop’s felted wool pinecones, which can be used as Christmas tree ornaments or bowl fillers, are one of her best-sellers. She also makes felted wool hearts, birds and bunnies. She isn’t alone in making new things with what she sells. One customer used one of her recycled bedsprings as the base for a sunflower made out of felt.

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Know of more alumni-made goods?
If you—or someone you know—has a homemade business that should be included in a future Classic gift guide, let us know. Send your tips to classic@nwciowa.edu.