Photo by Emma K. Morris
“I’m not into throwaway culture,” says artist, potter and sculptor Richard Carter. “People increasingly want things that are handmade, environmentally sensitive and can’t be found elsewhere. They also want to meet the makers and hear their stories.”
After seeing empty storefronts in the Napa Valley town of St Helena, he put his beliefs into practice and in May 2019 opened Carter and Co, a lifestyle store selling artisanal homeware, sustainable fashion and locally sourced produce.
Carter set about a meticulous restoration of a 19th-century store – which had been first a butcher’s, then a tailor’s and later an antiques shop. “I felt its soul and history immediately,” says Carter of the now soaring, light-filled space with its white plastered walls, waxed fir floors and wooden dressmaker’s shelves.