An eclectic collection of Elements of Design
“I want people to find treasures in here,” Kathy Hilger, the owner of Elements explained, “like I want to find treasures when I go shopping.”
The newly opened store on Main Street in Jasper fills the spot left by Babies in Bloom. The inside has changed a lot though; white walls and brick accents with a black tin ceiling that sometime rains brick dust from renovations going on upstairs. Oh, and the floor took a long time to get that unique look.
“We get a lot of comments on the floor. We just cleaned the tile and the carpet off,” she laughs, “and underneath was years of stuff, so we sealed it. People want the floors and I just say it’ll take about 200 years.”
Once your eyes leave the floor and explore the store, you start to see the treasures. Kathy’s artistic side is evident throughout the building but she says when people ask what the latest fads are she just asks them what they like. “I have to love it. I am not about the latest fad or fashion,” she said. “I like artists. I like to find unusual things.”
Kathy likes to find things she loves but she loves it when customers come in and find something they love in her store. Her store is centered around finding that one unique item.
Always a crafty person, she and her girlfriends would handmake crafts before she ever opened in Ireland. “We would set up a booth at a craft show,” Kathy explained, “and people would ask us if we had a shop because our booth would just look so well put together.”
She kept reinvesting the money she earned through the craft shows and building her savings up. Then her friend, Anita Lemond of Studio Expressions in Ireland, asked her if she would build frames for her studio. “I came home and told Matt (her husband) I’m starting a business,” she said.
The 15-year-veteran of Kimball used the craft show money to open the frame shop in the back of the feed mill in Ireland. She built custom frames and began to buy retail items here and there to sell at the shop. Soon she realized she really enjoyed retail and her business grew to consume the entire feed mill.
“It was interesting,” she described, “we would have this fine dust that was milled grain or corn or whatever coating things as it floated down from the ceiling when people would walk in the upstairs.”
She wanted to move to Main Street in Jasper but the opportunity didn’t seem right until she saw this building. She hasn’t escaped the dust though, now a fine film of brick dust coats some of her newly painted store and the paintings on the wall from renovations going on upstairs.
After nearly two months of renovations, the store opened in July with some fanfare and has remained popular. Kathy was surprised by the amount of traffic the store received during Strassenfest but the outside of her store beckons the curious to enter and find a treasure.
Kathy recalled how a family visiting from Anderson, IN, came into the store. “This man walked up to the counter and had a rock in his hand,” Kathy said.
He had found this one thing he really needed, but what he had found was actually a rock Kathy had placed on a shelf as a piece of decoration. According to Kathy this happens a lot. “We have all of these things for sale and they will want this,” she points at an older tackle box propping up a sculpture, “because it’s the only one here.”
The man told Kathy his hobby was building model train landscapes and he wanted to use the rock as a piece of landscape. “He said he had a perfect place for that rock.”
Kathy informed the man the rock wasn’t for sale, “but you can have it,” she said. “and he took out a pencil and asked me my name. He said he was going to put a sign on the rock that said ‘Kathy’s Rock.'”
There are treasures in her store for anyone. Walking through you will find handmade baby booties, candles, jewelry, local artists’ paintings and sculpture; just about anything you can think of to decorate your home. And many times these things are one-of-a-kind pieces and Kathy says that’s what attracts people.
“We are an eclectic mix of styles because that’s what I am,” she said. “I think that’s what people love about our store, they never know what they’ll find for sale”
Kathy is married to Matt Hilger. He was recently awarded the Federal Republic of Germany Friendship Award as a surprise during the Strassenfest Opening Ceremony. They have a daughter, 21-year-old Amanda and a son, 18-year-old Alex.
Elements is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Their number is 634-6017.
Facebook Page and website here.
