What is your name and the name of your business?
My name is Molly Simmons and I own and teach yoga at 2 Basket Street Yoga in Sandwich. 

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
My husband Paul’s family has been here since 1961. Sandwich was one of the first places Paul brought me after we met. That was Fair Weekend of 2010. I remember riding along the Holderness Road heading to Paul’s mom house and marveling at all the beautiful fall leaves. I had never been to Sandwich, NH and didn’t know what to expect. It was lovely. I also met many of Paul’s oldest friends when we went to watch the parade in town. We watched from one of Paul’s friends house. Many of the people I met that day are now dear friends of mine and also a big part of the community at 2 Basket Street Yoga.

What got you started in this work?
I started practicing yoga 20 years ago at a studio in Cambridge, Mass. I fell in love with the practice of yoga. Not only did it make my body feel stronger, but it also brought so much peace and healing to my mind. As fate would have it I started to work at the studio where I took my first class. I  continued on to teach at many different yoga studios in Boston and surrounding suburbs.

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
The studio is in our barn and offers beautiful views of Mt. Israel and the Sandwich range. This magical healing space was once used as an artist’s studio by the former steward of the property. It seemed fitting to give the studio a renewed look and create 2 Basket Street Yoga.

My style of teaching is a Vinyasa Flow, which means you will move from pose to pose. I also offer modifications if something is too challenging or you’re nursing an injury. You can rest also when you need. These are all-level classes; novices and experts alike are encouraged to come.

How did your business get started?
When my husband and I bought the property at 2 Basket Street here in Sandwich we were so lucky because the beautiful barn had a studio and I knew that I wanted to create a healing space. The setting is so lovely with the views of Mt. Israel and the Sandwich Range. With fine work of Chris Read, a local contractor and friend, we tailored the studio to fit its current need.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
I love teaching yoga! It is one of my favorite things to do and it doesn’t feel like work. I tell my students all the time that being able to teach yoga and bring yoga into the lives of others is such a gift. I love the community aspect of creating a yoga studio and bringing people together from the community to learn the practice of yoga and all of yoga’s amazing benefits. It is not about being able to touch your toes, it is about being present in the moment, taking care of you physical body and mind though the practice of yoga. The benefits of a yoga practice happen on and off the mat. 

What is the hardest?
Marketing my business is sometimes challenging because of the time it takes and also needing to be creative to spread the word, that is why I am grateful to SBG offering this platform to share.

What happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
Luckily, I was able to keep my things going by offering my yoga classes on Zoom, which was fantastic. I also held some classes outside late summer/fall last year. I am really excited to be offering in-person classes again here at the studio. For now, I am asking all students who attend in person to be vaccinated. I am also still offering classes on Zoom.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goals and hopes for 2 Basket Street Yoga are to add more classes to the schedule, to continue to create a space for people in the community to come together and practice yoga, feel the healing benefits, and enjoy the beauty of the mountains.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
I am also a Reiki partitioner and own powersofhealing.com which I founded in 2007. I provide Reiki healing to clients in my Cambridge office. I also offer Reiki healing sessions here at 2 Basket Street Yoga. 

I am a twin. I love hiking, biking, skiing and running the trails & the roads with my sweet husband Paul and our dog Penny!

Molly Simmons
info@2basketstreetyoga.com
617-461-9512
2basketstreetyoga.com

What is your name and the name of your business?
Katrine Dionne; Owner
Richard Child; Partner
Jonathan Beede House B&B, LLC

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
Katrine writes: I made a decision to move to New Hampshire as an attempt to start fresh in my life and live in more accordance with my values of caring for nature and exploring my own creativity. I was looking for a place where I could spend more time in nature and on my creative pursuits such as photography, writing, and painting.

I came to NH in the fall of 2019 and started work as the pharmacy manager in Meredith at the Hannaford supermarket. Once I was settled into the job and into a tiny little apartment, I began to search for my dream home. I told my agent that I wanted a big house so that I could accommodate my friends and family for visits and I wanted to be right in the midst of nature so I didn’t have to travel to spend time doing what I love.

After a year of searching and having two other houses under contract, the property at 711 Mount Israel popped up on my real estate search. It was higher than I could afford but by this time, Richard had uprooted his life from VT and I wasn’t doing life alone anymore. I felt that with his support, we would be able to afford the property together.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
I love photography, hiking, art, and spending as much time in connection with nature as possible. I came to NH because I wanted a place to heal and grow into myself as a creative person. I was hoping to spend my days off from work hiking, taking photos, and trying my hand at new creative endeavors. I am now taking on the B&B as an extension of those creative endeavors. I hope to see it flourish into something even more beautiful and unique than it already is. 

Richard has been extensively involved in the upkeep and maintenance of the house and land since we moved in. He cares deeply about stewarding the property and he loves to interact with new people. He loves music and playing his saxophone and looks forward to forming a band in the area. He is excited to be a part of the community and is enjoying his time working in the woods of Sandwich.

Jonathan Beede House B&B, LLC
711 Mount Israel Road
Center Sandwich, NH 03227
(603) 284-7413
Jonathanbeedehouse@gmail.com

Please enjoy this edition of Meet Our Members in which we learn about Derek and Linda Marshall, wonderful artists and craftspeople, who have lived and worked in Sandwich for decades. We are extremely fortunate to have so many fascinating and talented people in our midst.

What is your name and the name of your business?
Derek Marshall. Currently we operate as Derek Marshall Lighting, but before that, we operated as "The Sandwich Kiln " starting in 1971. Basically, it is the same business except we work more with glass than clay...but all comes under the rubric of ceramics.

What got you started in this profession?
 After graduating from college in 1965 Linda and I were married. We were then whisked off to Japan where I was to join my ship, the Destroyer Henry W. Tucker, DD875 to serve as her first lieutenant. This was the real start of the American involvement in Vietnam and the Tucker was utilized almost continually for shore bombardment with our 5" guns. 

Tucker also worked in carrier operations, running interference against possible enemy submarines and also as a decoy in the Gulf of Tonkin to lure the North Vietnamese to attack us to justify President Johnson’s Tonkin Resolution, the sole justification for our increasing presence in this war. That attack never happened.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
As it often happens, winding up in Sandwich was a random process. While we were in Japan, Linda's parents had left Connecticut for NH to open a gift shop,The Towle Hill House, in Meredith. 

When we returned from Japan in late winter of 1971, it was our intention to find a likely spot for setting up a pottery studio in Maine. A friend suggested that we look at Sandwich. A little investigation revealed that Sandwich was a delightful rural community with a long tradition of crafts and in fact was the birthplace of The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. The Sandwich Home Industries was one of several League shops selling New Hampshire art and crafts in the state.  

As it turned out, the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen is a unique organization, the envy of other crafts people around the country.  For several years I served as VP of the organization, headquartered in Concord.

How did your business get started?
We started out as potters which meant building a studio, a couple of kilns and all the associated gear necessary to what amounted to a small factory.  We made tableware, bowls of all sizes, plates, cups, and such like. It was a lot of work, going through about 8 tons of clay a year which I mixed in a repurposed mortar mixer.

One day we were approached by Norman Perry, a premier maker of table lamps for the architectural and interior design trade.  He asked if we would be interested in making some ceramic bases for his company to turn into table lamps. 

This we did for several years and became his bestselling line. We won the Roscoe award from the New York City Resources Council for one of our lamp’s designs. In 2019 we won Best of New Hampshire lighting from New Hampshire Magazine.

From this we found a lighting market which not only included table lamps, but also wall sconces. Eventually we incorporated elements of art glass into the sconces and then it was but a short jump to making wall sconces out of glass alone. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work?
We always enjoy selling our art to interesting people and places.  We have sold our lighting in many places, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, China, etc. 

In 1976 we were commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts to design and produce a dinner service for a special luncheon for the senate wives hosted by the President’s wife. A single serving of this is now in Sandwich Historical Society.

We do not necessarily know about the interesting people as so much of that kind of thing is handled by third party professional designers...but we have made and sold various of our lights to Richard Branson for his private islands in the Caribbean. I am also delighted when I see our lights in movies and television shows, most of which I have forgotten, but include Friends, Seinfeld, Fraser.  

In 1978 we returned to Japan for three shows of our ceramic art with our two children in Kyoto, Kurashiki and Takamatsu.

What is the hardest?
Minor problems occur dealing with customers who have a hard time making decisions. Our job is to help them see clearly what they want.A challenging part of our work is conceiving a new design, reducing it to a two-dimensional draft, then taking that to a three-dimensional pattern from which a series of negative and positive molds must be produced to finish the design. 

Usually there is a period of trial and error where all the previous steps may need to be tweaked, or worst case, abandoned to start all over again. Going from an idea to a finished product can take up to a year or longer.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
Cautious people are slower to spend money and the people who produce the glass we love sometimes run out of product. These are typical problems that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
We are always coming up with new designs, finding interesting new glass and other related parts for our designs, usually metal, metal castings and even nuts and bolts with appealing finish and texture made from brass, bronze or stainless steel. 

Reaching our market is always a challenge when you live on a dirt road in the middle of New Hampshire.  We advertise in design journals such as New Hampshire Home and Interior Design and send out press releases to inform the world that we exist for their pleasure.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
We stock about 4-5 dozen styles, textures and colors of the best art glass made in the world. The glasses have all the intrinsic charm of gem stones all being made from the same elements.  We have access to thousands of different colors, mixes and textures and can fulfill customers’ requirements for custom work.

All this information and more is on our website.  Please come and browse: derekmarshall.com