We are Kristi & Carolyn and we
have A LOT of Hang Ups! Our adventure started when we took a soldering class a few years ago. After that, our creativity exploded and Hang-Ups was
born from our love of antiques, repurposed materials, clay, beads, wire
and solder, and our strong entrepreneurial spirit….not to mention our
husbands urging to get rid of some of our stock!
Carolyn is a former Human Resources Professional and Kristi manages her own graphic design firm, KAP Design. We currently live in the Kansas City Missouri area with our wonderful and understanding husbands and children. We keep each other humble and have a lot of laughs (frequently at each other’s expense).
Carolyn is a former Human Resources Professional and Kristi manages her own graphic design firm, KAP Design. We currently live in the Kansas City Missouri area with our wonderful and understanding husbands and children. We keep each other humble and have a lot of laughs (frequently at each other’s expense).
We come from very different places,
geographically (California vs Quebec Canada,) and love to tease each other
about just about everything including how each of us speak with our respective
“accents”. To be honest, the key to the success of our partnership is
probably our different backgrounds and views.
We are each other’s biggest fans creatively and have different strengths
and weaknesses when it comes to the business.
This variety of skills and constant support (sometimes in the form of
brutal honestly) is something that we do not take for granted.
Our
favorite Hang Ups are the ones you can find at Hang Ups in KC. We have been making handmade jewelry since 2011, but in
2012 we found our true calling when we started making jewelry from repurposed
and vintage materials. We love scouring antique malls, thrift
stores, yard sales and salvage shops to find materials that we repurpose
into fun, unique and inspiring jewelry. Belts, typewriter keys, buttons, vintage
jewelry, silverware, keys and keyholes are among our favorite finds but we see
beauty in just about anything vintage.
We contacted Carrie Coogan, Executive Director of Literacy Kansas City
and an amazing partnership was born! Literacy Kansas City certifies volunteers as tutors and matches them
with adult learners from across the Kansas City metropolitan area who
want to improve their literacy skills. We designed a collection of literacy inspired jewelry to support this amazing organization and also donate our time at fundraising events, where we donate 20% of our sales to the Literacy Kansas City. We have had such
much fun working with this amazing team.
We are very excited to be a part of the
Handmade in Kansas City Initiative. What
an amazing group talented of local artisans! We look forward to friendship and learning and growing with this local group of talented makers and creatives!