...if we can't find what we want, we'll just do it ourselves. And we've done this for years...all of our products have really unique features that you won't see in other places. And there's kind of a story behind each piece about what what we were looking for and we couldn't find... - Rose Heim discussing the winter women's wear line she designs and manufactures with her daughter Gretchen, Heim-Made
Rose Heim moved to the Kelliher area to teach k-12 art at Kelliher School in the 1970s. She retired from her teaching career in 2008, but hasn't stopped working or creating. Starting with horse blankets when her daughter Gretchen was a young girl, Rose and Gretchen began co-designing things they needed but couldn't find in stores. Over the decades, that inspired, do-it-yourself attitude has carried them from horse blankets to women's wear. In the early 2000s, Gretchen craved a short, down skirt for her outdoor adventures and so beganHeim-Made: Where Haute meets Cold.
In this segment of Let's Visit, Rose discusses the history and trajectory of Heim-Made, the 1946 Spartan camper trailer she modified into a traveling storefront, the spirit of the Kelliher area that she loves so much, and the real-world value of art education.
...I was really struck with how open minded the the older generation was. And if you were a good person, they accepted you no matter who you were. And I think that that has translated into kind of a community trait here. And that's one of the things I really love and about the community in general.
...a lot of the people that live here had grandparents that were settlers and there is still a spirit of doing it yourself and figuring it out and it's a lot like the spirit of Heim-Made. You know if we can't find it we'll figure it out and make it ourselves. We'll do it ourselves. And in the community there's farmers that make parts for their machinery. And there's people that build buildings. It's just been something that's been handed down. It's not something they went to school to learn. And I love that spirit. I really love that spirit in the community.
