Meet Raea Fox | Artisan and Creator of Handcrafted Goods

We had the good fortune of connecting with Raea Fox and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Raea, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

Wood and Feather Designs was created to be an artistic outlet. I am passionate about design and have a desire to create beautiful pieces that tell a story. I love the idea that on any day I can create anything that I want to, from a beautiful piece of jewelry to an interesting lamp.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I am of Native American heritage, and I want to incorporate that into the pieces that I design.  Nature and color are the essential inspirations behind Wood + Feather Designs. Native American creativity and art has always been boundless and sacred. Art is a part of everyday life from the creation of pottery to blankets, all infused with symbols, colors and materials found in nature. Most of our collections begin with discovering something beautiful that inspires and excites me. The raw material leads the way as each piece is formed to accommodate that shape, color, size and reflective qualities.

One of the things that I am most proud of was when an Art Museum asked me to design a jewelry line to coincide with one of their artists exhibitions. Art is a powerful language that communicate ideas, stories and history. 

I got to where I am today with long hours and hard work. Owning your own business is fun at times, but also a lot of hard work. There are days that I am in my office working from sunrise to 2 or 3 in the morning. That can be wearing but it also helps me to take great pride in my work as well. Like anything in life, sometimes I feel as though you just have to push forward and do what has to be done, not every day is going to be a great day. Something I am grateful for is the great work ethic I was taught by both my mother and father, my grandparents and great grandparents. Growing up, I was surrounded by people who took great pride in their work.

Some of the lessons that I have learned along the way:
-To know the value of my time. This is an important one, as we only have one life to live and we need to spend our time doing the things that we love, spending our time with the people that matter the most to us.
-To surround myself with people that are excited about my success and want to support me.
-That I don’t know everything and surprisingly enough, I am not always right.

What I would like people to know about Wood + Feather and our Story –
We are a woman owned business, and we believe in quality craftsmanship and beautiful design, as well as being sustainable where we can. All of our products are handcrafted. We also believe in giving back to our community as a portion of our profits go to supporting Women’s and Children’s causes that help to advance their lives and provide opportunities for them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Art Museum Hiking
Baseball Game
Botanical Gardens
Piedmont Park
Farmers Market
Fox Theatre

I am a huge fan of the cooking channel as that is what you can usually find me watching. I love to go to check out the places I see on the different shows I see such as:
Pijiu Belly
Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours
Rreal Tacos
Buttermilk Kitchen
Nina & Rafi

Bars:
JoJo’s Beloved Cocktail Lounge
Johnny’s Hideaway
The Rooftop at Hotel Clermont

Good people watching
Little Five Points
Buckhead

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

My dad is an Artist, in fact my whole family is full of creative people with amazing artistic abilities. I was grateful growing up to see those skills being applied in different ways, and seeing all of those amazing talents being put to use. It allowed me to not put myself into any sort of box and just let my creative ideas flow.

Website: www.woodandfeatherdesigns.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodandfeatherdesigns/

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/woodandfeather/