Wild Hare Beadery provides Norman with a unique and diverse selection of beads, jewelry-making accessories and locally made jewelry. The store has now expanded its inventory to include vintage clothing, shoes and accessories.
Reese Truesdell took over and revamped the store a little over a year ago. Truesdell graduated from OU and shortly moved to New York, but after some time in the Big Apple, he realized he needed to head back home to Norman.
“I worked at the bead store when I lived in Norman and the owner of the store offered to let me live in the store and run it for her,” Truesdell said. “At the time, she was considering shutting down the store.”
After about three months, the former owner revealed that her intentions were to sell the store to Truesdell.
“I think it is a great asset to the community,” Truesdell said. “It is a craft store that is open to the public.”
As a jeweler and craftsman himself, Truesdell also sells his own jewelry in the store and has reaped the benefits of being an artist in a small city.
“You can toil away in big cities and work really hard and never make an impact but here if you want to make something happen for yourself then you can,” Truesdell said.
The vintage clothing part of the store developed over the summer as Truesdell’s girlfriend, Margaret Kinkeade, started bringing some of the items that the two discovered while searching through thrift stores and estate sales.
Kinkeade and Truesdell’s baby, Ellie, is also a featured attraction at the store.
“That is the best part of my job,” Truesdell said. “I get to bring my daughter here every day and have all of our friends and family visit us all the time.”
Wild Hare Beadery offers classes and even parties by request.
“I also do a lot of commission work,” said Truesdell, whose pieces often incorporate the old with the new — mixing antique jewelry with newer chains and charms.
Truesdell is also one of the three founders of Dustbowl Arts Market and he anticipates another collaboration with Norman Music Festival this year.
Wild Hare Beadery
HOURS:
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday to Saturday
12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
ADDRESS: 319 White St.
in Norman
PHONE: 405-447-5929
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register