Holiday Gift Guide: Handcrafted

A coaster from Handcrafted

Valerie Royzman

Authentic. Handcrafted. So Ohio. 

Handcrafted, which opened in May, sells handmade items from artists in Ohio, along with American-made furniture. Store owner Jessica Ryan’s gift-giving suggestion for the holiday season is a wooden coaster from Noeldoubt Ohio, based in Columbus.

“It’s a great host gift,” Ryan said. “If you’re going to a holiday party this season, no one like rims on their table, so you can provide your own coasters and leave them.”

Ryan said popular buyers of the coaster are students going abroad.

“They were all looking for gifts that they could easily take to a different country because they were traveling abroad and they had a host family,” she said. “So they bought a set of coasters, that way they could show their host family where they’re from.”

The coaster is $6 on its own. Handcrafted is also selling them four for $20 or five for $25. Find Noeldoubt Ohio online here.

Ryan, a Kent native, said she opened the store because she saw an opportunity to sell work from local artists.

“(Kent is) a very artsy town,” she said. “There are a lot of artists that are based in this area, if not in Kent. … I have artists from Toledo all the way down to Cincinnati.”

Ryan said customers can find “a little bit for everybody” at Handcrafted this holiday season.

Visit the website here. Find daily updates from the store on Facebook and Instagram @handcraftedkent.