Miller and Zanetti offered free leatherworking workshops through the Cindy Platt Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County, Transylvania County Library and Mountain Sun Community School, reaching children as well as adults. The shop regularly offers workshops, but those programs generally come with a fee.

“Being able to offer this for free was such a unique thing that we normally cannot do, and there was a lot of excitement from folks that were able to have that opportunity,” Miller said.

The remainder of the grant created a more direct opportunity for growth. Newfound Artisan makes leather goods in-house, and leather represents one of its largest material expenses. Buying enough high-quality leather to qualify for better wholesale pricing requires a significant upfront investment—money that can be difficult for a small retailer to tie up in inventory.

The grant changed that equation.

“Because of this grant, we were able to have that money to invest in the minimum order quantity to get the wholesale pricing we needed to make [a special type of leather] viable for us,” Miller said. “The specific leather we use for our bags is from a tannery called Horween, which has been tanning its leather in Chicago for over 100 years. Using leather from this heritage American brand is a big reason our material costs are high, but we are committed to using domestic materials whenever possible.” 

Having this specific leather on hand and in great quantity allowed Newfound Artisan to develop a customizable bag program. Customers can select among different leather colors, straps and hardware, and the shop has enough material in stock to produce those combinations quickly.

Newfound Artisan currently offers customizable crossbody and tote bags and plans to expand the program with backpack and messenger bag styles. The investment has also shortened the turnaround time for custom work. With materials already available, Miller said the shop can complete a custom bag in less than a week and, depending on workload, potentially within a day.

Most importantly for the long-term impact of the grant, the product line has begun generating enough business to replenish its own inventory. The bags are selling, and they have already made a second order of the materials that were once financially out of reach for the shop. 

That growth comes at a time when Newfound Artisan has been looking for ways to make its retail business less dependent on downtown foot traffic. Although the shop is in downtown Brevard, its location one block off Main Street means it can miss much of the pedestrian traffic concentrated along the main corridor. Miller said the business has responded by diversifying through workshops and partnerships with other businesses that purchase handmade goods for resale or client gifts.

The grant-funded custom program fits into that broader effort while reinforcing what has distinguished Newfound Artisan since it opened: an emphasis on handmade products and the people who create them. Zanetti, an artist herself, founded the store with a network of makers she had met through craft shows, Penland School of Craft, and the regional creative community. Zanetti’s identity as a maker has inspired her to purchase from makers wholesale rather than on consignment.

“It's hard to give your pieces to a shop and just wait,” she said. “[Furthermore], there isn’t much of an incentive for the shop owner or employees to sell the goods because they didn’t pay full price for them.”

Newfound Artisan purchases goods wholesale from local artisans, giving the makers payment upfront rather than requiring them to wait until an item sells.

“So they have their money in hand,” Zanetti said. “It's at wholesale cost, but having that money up front for me was always huge…and it incentivizes us to sell these goods, so we can make money back. That has helped a lot with getting high-end makers to be in our store.”

For Miller, independent retailers like Newfound Artisan also contribute something larger to Brevard. Having grown up in an eastern North Carolina community where a once-active downtown declined as major industries disappeared, he sees locally owned shops as part of what keeps a downtown distinctive and economically alive.

“Having a vibrant downtown community that has these local shops and things that you can't find at the outlet mall, that's important,” Miller said. “It creates an atmosphere that people want to be a part of, and we wanted to contribute to that in any way we could.” 

Newfound Artisan is located at 22 West Jordan Street, Brevard. Learn more at NewfoundArtisan.com.