La Tienda first opened its doors in October of 1962, shortly after the end of the Seattle World’s Fair. Leslie Grace, the founder, had been inspired by the Mexican exhibit, filled with wonderful folk art and handcrafts, reminding her of similar things she had seen on family travels in Mexico. She determined to bring to the Pacific Northwest the very best crafts that were available from Latin America, by personally selecting every item, as much as possible directly from the people making it.Over the years following, the shop gradually expanded its horizons, and in 1969 it also expanded its location, doubling the floor space, and allowing more growth and more exciting travel--to South America, Africa, Afghanistan, and Southeast Asia. Finding the craftspersons, and learning the cultures and histories of the people making and using the items became a goal in itself. Further expansion into the local revival of craft production in the mid-1970’s has been another aspect of the store’s growth, and now the “made in USA” constitutes nearly a third of our merchandise offerings.
Over the years a series of fine staff employees has helped maintain the consistent quality of selection and presentation that has brought La Tienda a wide and discriminating clientele. It is considered one of the real jewels of the Seattle shopping world.
Two of these employees took the challenge and took over the business from Leslie in 1995, as she determined that 33 years was enough and other interests beckoned. In the fall of 1998, the opportunity to open another location presented itself, and the Ballard store opened just in time for the holiday rush. Now well-established at the center of the “Old Ballard” business district, it presents a completely different setting for the wonderful collection of gifts, folk art, jewelry, and textiles that make up the La Tienda experience.
General Policy:
La Tienda has a hard-core passion for hand-made crafts, wherever they might be found. The search for crafts has taken us all over the world, although we often find wonderful things right in our own back yard. The result is an extremely varied collection of artifacts, constantly changing week by week and year by year. Our focus is on interesting and well-made items, both useful things and things that just delight us. Unfortunately, we often have very limited quantities of any one item at any one time. Due to the nature of most hand-made objects, relatively few items are truly the same, one piece to the next. Many are in reality “one of a kind” pieces, many others are “variations on a theme.”
American Fine Crafts:
La Tienda first started dealing in American-made handcrafts in the late 1970’s, as the revival of an Artist-Craftsman tradition gained momentum out of the hippie counter-culture of the 60’s and 70’s. At the same time the costs of foreign travel and shipping skyrocketed, making our search for ethnic crafts more and more costly. We found that there were wonderful things made by hand here in our own neighborhood, and in many other regions of the USA. The amount of artistic imagination and practical skill represented is actually quite amazing, and keeps us constantly on the lookout for new items from new artists.
The items presented here are just a sampling of the fine crafts that we carry at our Ballard location in Seattle. Further inquiries are welcome. As of September 2nd, 2005, we have closed our University location store. Please visit us in Ballard!
