Back in 2004, before Gather, I started an event called The Rock & Shop Market as a place for local makers to sell their wares because there wasn’t anything like it out there for them (or me). It’s kind of hard to remember what that landscape looked like when these days it seems like there is a makers market everywhere you look. I hosted the event for ten years and through it met thousands of maker entrepreneurs aiming to grow their creative business. Sonya of Metamorphosis Metals was one of the original and consistent vendors at my juried markets, and in 2011 when tornadoes came through Raleigh and decimated homes in the Southeast Raleigh neighborhoods I commissioned her to make a custom necklace to raise funds for the Boys & Girl’s Club that was also affected in that neighborhood. She has been steadily growing and refining her business over that time and it’s been cool to watch as the city around us has grown and changed and evolved itself.

She’s teaching an upcoming earring making class at Gather in downtown Cary this Thursday April 11th at 6:30pm. It is sure to be a good time and you are going to learn a lot. Sonya has a distinctive metal style and she’s sharing that process in this class. You can register for the class here.

Photos by Michelle Smith for Gather Goods Co