By Katie EuphratContributing Writer
In 1996, Ayla Phillips bought a bead kit from an Evanston craft store as a way to relax after her administrative job. Phillips found making jewelry so calming that she left her human resources job to open a bead store on Davis Street.
Two years later, the bead store was re-named Ayla’s Originals and moved to its current location, 1511 Sherman Ave. In this bustling area, the store has become a local gem.
While customers can buy handmade jewelry crafted by Phillips and her employees, most come to create their own pieces, using store-stocked beads, which are sold separately or by the strand, chain, wire and pendant. Bead strands vary in price from $2 to $800, but Ayla’s Originals offers a 10-percent discount to students who show a WildCARD.
“It’s calming, a chance to have an outlet for creativity,” Phillips said. “Being able to take things apart you don’t like, and put them back together in ways you like – it’s great.”
She calls her store an “international bead bazaar,” because she orders her merchandise from all over the world. She orders brass beads from the Philippines, yak bone from Africa, pearls from China and glass furnace beads from U.S. glass artist David Christensen.
Although most of Phillips’ customers are middle-aged women from North Shore suburbs, Phillips said the store appeals to everyone. She also said she tries to cater to college students by staying on the edge of new fashion.
“Last summer and fall, earth tones and naturals were huge, so we ordered lots of shell and bone and horn and wood to go with it,” she said.
Phillips and her 14 employees – two full-time and 12 part-time – occasionally offer limited-space jewelry-making classes.
The store also hosted a national bead show, called “Wonderful World of Beads,” on Nov. 5. The show, held at Evanston Hilton Garden Inn, attracted more than 500 people and showcased the work of 70 international vendors.
Since Nov. 7, customer Frieda Luftglas, in Evanston on business from Connecticut, had been in Ayla’s Originals four times.
“I wanted to make something interesting, but nothing too hard because I wasn’t going to have many tools in my hotel room,” said Luftglas, 49, an occupational therapist. Luftglas said the staff was attentive and helped her learn to bead.
“If you’ve never made a necklace before, there’s just so many choices – it’s really overwhelming,” said manager Ivy Herman, 24.
In addition to working at the store, Herman now sells her own jewelry out of her home and in display cases at Ayla’s Originals.
“You have bead kits when you’re growing up, but I didn’t know how to make earrings or wrap beads on chain when I came here,” said Herman, an eight-year employee. “I stayed away at first, but once I started, I got addicted, and it will be a hobby for the rest of my life.”
Beadwork has become a lifelong endeavor for Phillips as well. Although she wants to spend more time in her home studio making jewelry, she also enjoys interacting with the customers.
“Beading was my hobby, it was my therapy,” she said. “Now it’s nice to hear people say, ‘I saw this over there, but it wasn’t as nice,’ and that our staff is so knowledgeable. We’re known for our quality.”
Reach Katie Euphrat at [email protected].
