Rope Art
Lauretta Converse ’83, a fiber artist who teaches macrame at the Newport (R.I.) Art Museum, left the world of finance in 2020 to launch her company, Newport Knots, where she makes beautiful decorative pieces from rope. Among her products are these ingenious “thump bowls” (above, center) shaped from thump mats, a type of rope mat traditionally used on sailing boats to protect the deck from the impact and noise caused by falling pulleys. Also available is her circular medallion version of the Scottish Hilton of Cadboll stone—a design made up of six interwoven Celtic knots symbolizing the continuous flow of life, death, and rebirth (above, right). Converse says that her work “is primarily influenced by the visual textures I see in and around my home in Newport.” An economics and English concentrator while at Brown, she says that her journey from corporate executive to rope artist “is a testament to how Brown forms in each of us a maker’s mindset.” A self-taught artist, Converse says she came to her craft “during a time in my life when I needed stillness, and the quiet, repetitive practice of knotting became a form of meditation.” Converse, a member of the Newport Artists Collective, says that “rope has been a ubiquitous thread throughout human history, used by everyone from priests to sailors, and it is a profound honor to tie the same knots as people from centuries ago.”
$125 for set of three minibowls; Hilton of Cadboll medallion, $250
newportknots.studio
Totes Cool
Kibwe Chase-Marshall ’10 worked as an NYC designer before Brown, then, 15 years later, launched Lance Pierres, his own L.A.-based line of accessories.
Varsituile 01 tote $149.95; 15% discount on orders over $145; use code BROWN15
lancepierres.com
A Fizzy Buzz
Founded by Jim Higdon ’00 MFA, Cornbread Hemp makes seltzers infused with 5mg of pure THC and natural fruit flavors. “I felt cheeky after just one,” a Vice writer said in her rave review of the salted watermelon flavor. Cornbread uses organic sun-grown USDA Kentucky hemp flower to make their CBD and THC products in America.
$29.99/4-pk, $54.99/8-pk and $159.99/24-pk; 25% off first order for alums; use code BAM25
cornbreadhemp.com
Dreamy Gummies
From Cornbread Hemp, founded by Jim Higdon ’00 MFA, come these USDA CBD Sleep Gummies made with only food-grade organic ingredients. “When I was at Brown, I might’ve received cannabis from Kentucky once or twice,” says Higdon. “Now I can legally ship my Kentucky-grown hemp products to alums nationwide.”
$49.00/30; Extra strength $99.00; 25% discount with code BAM25
cornbreadhemp.com
Mate Scents
The Roster, the fragrance shop of Emma Gonsalves ’15 MAT, offers 50-ml versions of four kinds of significant others: the Dream Husband (sugar and vanilla cream), the Gaslighter (notes of salt and lime), the Perfect Gentleman (rose petals…of course!), and the Narcissist (a sultry and smoky speakeasy).
$86; 10% discount with code BAMSNIFF10
therosterfragrances.com
Legacy Ginger Ale
It was at Brown that Ellen McGeeney ’85, an eighth-generation Kentuckian, first began thinking about how to run a business ethically, without, in her words, “worshipping at the altar of maximizing shareholder value.” Now, as the CEO of the century-old Ale-8-One Bottling Company, she leads a legacy business making an old-fashioned ginger ale with a crisp, clean taste, handcrafted batch by batch using a secret recipe passed down through four generations of one Kentucky family. Locals love to pair this lightly carbonated soft drink, blended with the company’s proprietary ginger and a hint of citrus, with Kentucky bourbon. The recipe was developed by soda bottler G.L. Wainscott, who traveled throughout northern Europe to learn more about ginger beers before introducing the product in 1926. He even sponsored a naming contest for it at the Clark County Fair; the winner was “A Late One,” which Wainscott tweaked to Ale-8-One to get the word “ale” into the title. Under McGeeney, the company now offers a variety of full- and zero-sugar sodas, including cherry, blackberry, and cream—and even seasonal favorites like pawpaw, straw melon, and peach. As for Ale-8-One, its reach has grown so much that it’s now sold in Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores nationwide.
$12 for 12 bottles plus shipping. 20% discount for Brown alums on glass bottles only through 12/31/2026 (use code BAM100)
ale8one.com/store
Bucket List
Lance Pierres, the accessory line of Kibwe Chase-Marshall ’10, offers this Oakwood 01 Bucket Hat, an elevated take on the classic chic bucket hat, cut from signature pebble-grain calf leather with raw cut edges and a sueded interior.
$59.95; 15% discount on orders over $145; use code BROWN15
lancepierres.com
Chime Time
From Newport Knots, founded by Newport, RI–based fabric artist Lauretta Converse ’83, this sleek, minimalist design is knotted from Turkish cotton and mounted on hand-polished walnut. At 26” wide by 50” high, it evokes a mid-century door chime—without the noise.
$2,500
newportknots.studio
In the Bag
After actress Heather MacKenzie-Chaplet ’94 decided to leave the theater biz to “perform in the real world,” she and her musician husband, Nils Chaplet, traveled through several organic cotton–producing countries in West Africa in 2009 until they decided to work in Burkina Faso, and Xoomba was born. The company works with a U.N. program called Made 51 that helps refugees and forcibly displaced people build back their lives with artisan work. Xoomba’s organic cotton products are woven on small traditional looms that the weavers build from branches and reeds. The yarn is locally grown and hand-dyed with GOTS-certified dyes. Among Xoomba’s many products is this hammock bag twisted by their own Burkina Faso neighbors. All of Xoomba’s products are made with practices that have been part of Burkinabé life for centuries and that embody ancestral knowledge, support local economies, and reinforce cultural identity. Other Xoomba products not shown here include jumpsuits for toddlers made with a little
pleat in the legs that can be opened with a seam ripper when the child starts to grow to get another half-year of wear. Xoomba’s goal: “making fashion harmless.”
Hammock bag $35
xoomba.com
Oh My Gourd!
From Xoomba, founded by Heather MacKenzie-Chaplet ’94, this Calabash Hip Pocket combines organic cotton handwoven on small traditional looms with a pocket gracefully domed by its namesake gourd. Like most Xoomba products, it’s made by artisans who have been forcibly displaced from their rural villages.
$46
xoomba.com
Christmas Countdown
After starting a greeting-card company in the eighties, Suzy Becker ’84 was so upset after the election last November that she channeled her anger into creative acts including a “Town Scream”—and now, this Holiday Advent Poem Tree, in which 25 seasonal poem “branches” count down the days to Dec. 25. Branches are hand-rolled, punched with an awl, mounted on a “trunk,” and topped with a hand-painted star.
$60 plus shipping
suzybecker.com/shop/advent-poem-tree
Spicy Scent
Tropic of Sheena Eau de Parfum represents a collaboration between Sheena Sood ’06, whose fashion label Abacaxi (Portuguese for pineapple) merges handcrafted techniques and natural fibers, and Night Air Scent Studio’s Leonora Zoninsein ’08, a geographer and perfume artist. (The two met at Brown in a literary arts class.) It’s a warm, spicy, gender-neutral floral scent with strong currents of wood resin made from Peruvian pink peppercorn fruit, Indian jasmine flowers, Japanese star anise, and more. The fragrance is a culmination of almost two years of research, collaboration, discovery, sourcing, and design—hand-mixed and bottled by the duo between their NYC studios. It comes inside a glass bottle with a hand-embellished wooden cap, which itself comes inside a custom paper box. Tucked inside is a “Map of Memories,” which the duo calls “a geopoetic correspondence to each of the ingredients in the meaningful moments and locations that compose this scent.” That sounds like it could come from an MCM class term paper!
$195/50ml; $55/7ml; 10% discount for Brown alums: code BrownU
abacaxi-nyc.com/perfume
Soothing Salves
In 2020, burnt out on corporate design work, Scott Formby ’83 cofounded Figaro Apothecary, devoted to “a return to slowness, the healing power of botanics, and the rituals that help restore balance.” At right, Lush Botanical + Floating Mineral Bath Soak and Relief Balme muscle salve, with Figaro’s exclusive Cannacomplex™ blend.
Bath soak $75; Balme $65; 15% discount with code BAM!
figaroapothecary.com
Hot Dates
A former teacher turned perfumer, Emma Gonsalves ’15 MAT channeled her and her friends’ rough-and-tumble online dating experiences into The Roster’s “bold and long-lasting scents.” The Matchmaker Mini Set includes six 2-ml samples from its Eau de Parfum collection.
$45/free shipping; 10% discount for alums with code BAMSNIFF10
therosterfragrances.com
That’s So Clutch
This lunch–bag style clutch from Xoomba, founded by Heather MacKenzie-Chaplet ’94, is handwoven in Burkina Faso, West Africa, from 100 percent locally grown, organic, and fair-trade-certified cotton. It gently folds over with a self-fringe edge and discreet hidden magnets that hold the shape beneath the flap. Its fabric is created on small traditional hand looms by the Bwaba people who have been displaced from rural villages around the city of Nouna.
$55
xoomba.com
Holly Jolly
Liam Trotzuk ’16 was working in corporate aviation when he stumbled across yaupon holly, North America’s only caffeinated plant. He shared his discovery with Wall Streeter Andrew Little ’16, who loved the workday boost it gave him. They created Goldholly, which has a subtle, herbaceous flavor and about half the caffeine content of classic tea.
$34.49 for the three-roast bundle; 12% discount for alums; use code GOBRUNO
goldholly.com