Mission
We work to remind people of the value of craft, and to get people excited about making things with their hands. We do that by stitching high-quality textiles that folks can pass down for generations.
Inspiration
Sometimes we’re asked why on earth we started Standard Grit. Truth be told, there are a lot of reasons we found ourselves making textiles. To start, we love unique keepsakes with a sense of heritage, and the simple joy found in crafting things with our hands. On top of that we really like the idea of creating modern day heirlooms that people might keep in their families for generations. You can’t pass down an iphone to your grandson.
There are just as many things that inspire the personality of our textiles. The south has a rich, colorful tradition of storytelling that permeates every day life. There’s a unique vernacular specific to the south that’s odd, arcane and beautiful. Those eccentric sayings seem to lodge in the brain, and it makes sense to us to celebrate them.
History
I grew up in a textile family, in a region of the Carolinas often referred to as “the textile capitol of the world.” My father worked for a handful of mills through the years, and I can vividly remember visiting those factories. The clacking of the looms and the racing of the shuttles and bobbins amazed me. All of the hard-working people manning those machines were moving independently but working together, each doing their small part in weaving something as a collective whole. That experience had a great impact on me. They were making something.
My sister-in-law grew up a few miles down the road, in a large, classically southern family. The women were limitless in their craft abilities, and they sewed, quilted, canned and crocheted constantly. Textiles touched the family’s patriarchy as well, with her father, grandfathers, and several uncles all finishing fabric at the bleachery in Rock Hill, SC. As a small girl, Susan would sit in a tent of fabric on the floor under her grandmother’s quilt rails waiting to pass the needle back and forth through the fabric and batting to tie the quilts.
In the years since then our worlds have vastly expanded. Technology has made life easier and faster. But along with so many gains, we’ve become somewhat separated from the appreciation of craft, and from the joy of making things with our hands.
Standard Grit began without any grand ambition, as casual collaboration between Sue and I. As an anniversary gift I designed a tattoo for her and my brother: an anchor locked together with the letter H, surrounded by stars. A few months later, Sue turned the design into a flag as an anniversary gift for my wife and me. I was blown away by the texture, character and beautiful imperfections that came from being made by hand. Our friends agreed, and Sue and I decided to try a few more.
Somewhere in the drawing, cutting and stitching of those early flags we realized how much we both missed making things with our hands. Standard Grit was born out of a shared effort to reclaim that joy in our lives. The joy of making something.
Future
We’re having too much fun to stop here. Along with our evolving line of seasonal flags, we plan to expand our offerings in the year to come. Join the newsletter and check back in with us for some exciting new projects coming soon.
