Hestia Creations, a wholesaler that creates custom-design ornaments shipped around the country is open all year long.
“People buy ornaments year-round,” said Joanne D’Alessandro, president and owner of Hestia Creations. “Especially tourists come in … and we do a lot of custom ceramics.”
With over 5,300 designs, Hestia Creations has no plans of stopping. Its clients range from churches, to mainstream organizations, to gift shops around the country.
“They make great wedding presents,” D’Alessandro said. “We can customize them with the bride and groom’s names and the date that they got married.”
“We custom-designed Monopoly boards,” she added. “It was a birthday present … and he had all the significant events in his life which was a lot of fun.”
Buildings, events, Santa figures, and native animals can be found among the ornament designs at Hestia Creations.
The process of ordering a custom design is quite simple. First, the customer will send photographs of the design of their desired ornament. Then the Hestia team will work on a sketch and send it back to the customer for approval. The team then creates a prototype of the arrangement before beginning production.
In addition to creating ornaments distributed around the country, Hestia Creations hosts birthday parties for children to make ceramics.
D’Alessandro said she created her dream place at Hestia Creations with a medical and science research background and no business experience.
“You’re not aware of what’s involved in running a business,” D’Alessandro said. “So that’s been the biggest challenge and when I took the company in 2005, it took me a couple of years to feel comfortable. And by 2007 there was a big recession and we lost a lot of customers because your shops just folded during that time with the economy.”
Through hard times, D’Alessandro has learned to stay creative for her business to continue to evolve. Her business creates new ornaments every year that depict different aspects of Marblehead, hosts parties and special events, and offers paint-your-own pottery classes and classes for dads and their kids.
“There’s a great chance for dads to spend some time with their children and it gives mothers a couple of hours. So, they come in, and it’s great fun,” D’Alessandro said.
With all the diverse services offered at Hestia Creations, learning that the business is a wholesaler seems to take customers by surprise.
“People are not aware that we are wholesalers, and the interesting thing is some customers come in and say ‘I was in New York or Connecticut or Georgia, and I found this southern ornament.’ They’re always surprised to see our ornaments in places they go to visit,” D’Alessandro said.
Without a doubt, during the winter season that brings along holiday festivities, Hestia Creations is the place to be.
“It’s insane. It really is insane,” D’Alessandro said. “For our wholesale customers, it’s a frantic rush to get all their ornaments to them at the beginning of the year.”