We’re moving to Charleston!!!!  Did you hear all about it over on instagram?  We are so excited to start a new chapter of our lives in one of the most beautiful cities!  Since we announced our move a couple weeks ago, we’ve gotten lots & lots of questions. Some we expected, other’s we weren’t so prepared for.  We know that the internet is good for giving you just a small glimpse into our lives but I thought I’d pull back the curtain a bit more and tell you a bit more about why we’re moving, why Charleston, SC & what to expect from us in the near future!

Let’s start at the very beginning shall we?  Almost exactly 2 years ago we packed up our studio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and made the move to the Dayton, Ohio area.  We were moving to be closer to our family & friends.  While this was our main motivation to move, we knew that our little business was growing in unexpected ways and we saw the opportunity to expand & bring something oh-so-new to the sweet town of Troy, Ohio.  We fell in love with the charm of the small downtown area & quickly found a space that was perfect for us to open our first retail location!  We LOVED our fancy little shop, sweet customers & friends & enjoyed the challenge of bringing something new & unexpected to the area!

But almost immediately, I felt something tugging at my heart, telling me it just wasn’t exactly where I was being called to be.  We started to adapt our services, products & brand to the point I wasn’t sure if we were serving our ideal customer anymore.  I was grateful of the support but sometimes – you just know when things aren’t quite right.

My business was built because I had the desire to create, inspire & serve others.  Our retail has always been meant to be an extension of our brand, not the brand itself.  Pairing that with the tough adjustment of small town living & limited creative access, I was slowly starting to lose my vision for Avenue Twenty-One. With the unlimited support of my husband (and a ton of tears), we made the decision to focus on what lifestyle opportunities we both craved.

So all of that being said, how did we choose Charleston, SC?  Well, Mr. K and I each got to choose one place that we would visit.  We had a list of our “must haves”, booked a 7 day trip (spending 3 days in each place) & let our hearts tell us what was right for us.  Mr. K chose Austin, Texas, I chose Charleston & we added Pittsburgh as our baseline because we knew it was home for us.

I filled out this spreadsheet & added the things that we were looking for in our new home.  Some of the things that made the list? Good breakfast places, “foodie town”, great shopping, farmer’s markets, we wanted a city that had a personality and culture, friendly people, mild weather, an area with a strong wedding industry, coastal town (for me) & a laid back city (for Mr. K).

It turns out moving to Charleston, SC was exactly what we needed.  We knew within the first 4 hours of being there that it was the place for us.  We absolutely loved everything about the city!  Looking at the future growth of Avenue Twenty-One and the services that you all were asking for, we honestly couldn’t have picked a better place!  For the first time in years, we felt at home.  I suddenly saw a clear vision of how Avenue Twenty-One would expand, who we would serve & how our lifestyle brand would evolve! And friends, we know you will absolutely love it & take the ride along with us!

So what can you expect from Avenue Twenty-One & myself as we move forward into our newest adventure?  Well we can’t wait to tell you absolutely everything but we know this:  We’ve spent a couple of months streamlining our services to make sure that we are doing what we truly love & what our friends, clients & customers have told us they want to see from us!

We’ve narrowed our focus down to four main points within our brand:
* Curated Gift Boxes:  It’s no secret that you all went crazy for our Build-A-Box Bar when we started it last year and we weren’t ready to take on the demand and custom requests.  Now, our new studio will be able handle custom gift box orders of all sizes.  We are happily opening our calendar to gift design for wedding welcome boxes, curated client gifts, workshop swag & corporate gifting.

* Laser Cut Wedding & Home Decor: Our laser cut decor, signage, cake toppers & engraved materials is now one your favorite requests! And we LOVE pushing the boundaries of what we can create! You can expect more designs including a new line of laser cut decor for the home!

* Calligraphy:  While we are moving away from our traditional invitations, our love for calligraphy & hand lettering isn’t going anywhere any time soon! Book us for your custom calligraphy projects for your wedding or special event!  And yes, for those that have asked us: we will still be offering our online calligraphy kits (we’re revamping them to make them even better) and we do plan on hosting more calligraphy workshops so stay tuned for that!

and lastly – but probably most important…

* Lifestyle:  When starting my business in 2010, I wanted to emphasize a lifestyle.  That drinking champagne with your gal pals in the afternoon & wearing tulle skirts on a Tuesday was absolutely okay!  I wanted to celebrate holidays but also celebrate the Monday’s in life – because in their own way… they are beautiful, too!  So now, you’ll be able to check our blog & social media for the Avenue Twenty-One Lifestyle posts & inspiration! We just know you will love it!

We’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what works best for us, our brand & the Avenue Twenty-One future and we know that we’re heading in the perfect direction… full of sunshine & brightly colored homes, sweet tea & some of the most amazing people we’ve ever had the opportunity to work with!

So as always, thanks for taking the ride along with us! xoxo!