The Taea Made Blog: Step Inside Unglued

I met Ashley Morken, owner of Unglued, during preparation for the first Unglued: Craft Fest, a handmade show featuring indie artists and makers. Since then, Unglued has continued with yearly craft shows that have expanded to a bigger venue, a permanent storefront and pop-up Christmas shop. It offers the community of Fargo-Moorhead a chance to shop handmade and learn new creative skills.

Unglued is the first store that featured Taea Made handmade products. Ashley and Justin Morken own the store, with Ashley being the primary operator. The encouragement, advice, and kindness that I've received from Ashley and the amazing Unglued staff is second to none. They curate a store full of one-of-a-kind whimsical handmade products that will surprise and delight you. They truly have something for everyone!

What makes Unglued unique is their ever changing events and community involvement. Numerous classes are offered every month that share a love of creating and craft. I've had the opportunity to teach sewing classes with Unglued, and it has brought me such joy to teach new skills to the wonderful participants!

Ashley was kind enough to indulge me with a little Q & A about her store for this new Taea Made Blog "Step Inside" series featuring the places you can shop Taea Made products. I hope you'll enjoy this new series as much as I've enjoyed creating it.

What inspired you to open your own handmade shop?

Retail wasn't something I was dreaming to go into. I was a nurse for 7 years before doing Unglued full-time and what I dreamt of was doing awesome creative events and helping awesome people make their own dreams happen and get connected to others doing the same. When I saw the success of our first indie craft fest and after the suggestions of our crafters in it I began to see how opening a handmade shop could make that happen. I saw how doing a handmade shop could pull together community and small creative businesses - and also allow me to continue to do events that I love!

Upon someone’s first visit to your store, what can they expect to find?

They will find "etsy in real life." We've had people walk in and say it's their happy place or made their day 10 times better just to stop by (which is crazy and awesome!). They will find inspiration and creativity from over 250 local and regional artists and makers.

Where do you draw your inspiration from when creating new classes, window displays, and crafts?

The trick is to stay inspired amongst the insane amount of paperwork and behind-the-scenes boring-stuff that it takes to have a running shop! What I take time for most days is to briefly look at blogs like Design Sponge and A Beautiful Mess. What truly inspires me most, though, is to take time to step away and travel especially when I'm burning out even if it's to the coffee shop in Hillsboro. Any time I'm on the road or in an airplane my mind clears and new ideas and dreams come easy. Justin (husband) also inspires me through the stage designs he does to have more movement, power tools, and lighting in what we do and challenges me to make things more awe-inspiring.

What do you most love about owning your own business?

I love the way we can affect other creative business owners through our little shop. There is literally nothing more satisfying than to hear from our makers that being a part of our Fest, shop, or something like our Etsy User Group supported them to take the next step towards their dream.

Where are you from, and how did you end up in the F-M area?

I grew up on the Iron Range of MN and ended up at UND to be a nurse. From there I met my husband when I would put on rock shows and he was a drummer. I briefly moved to Mpls to be a nurse for a year and a half but then found myself in Fargo when we got more serious! Before I even spoke to Justin ever I called my mom to tell her I saw my future husband so from the beginning of that relationship I had a feeling I'd be where he was later on;)

What’s the story behind the black Fargo coffee mugs?

So when I moved to Fargo and we got engaged I made Justin swear we'd never stay here forever (I'm super restless). He would agree but still say over and over "Fargo is the greatest city in the world."...needless to say once we really found ourselves involved in our city more and an incredible group of friends we knew we'd be here for the long run and I love it and now agree!! When we opened I wanted to have a sweet "Fargo" item that was pretty cheap so being how that saying was our "thing" he designed the mug.

Why is Fargo the “Greatest City in the World?”

I fully realize I probably couldn't have done Unglued in one of those "big" cities I had always wanted to live in. Fargo is a city that is hungry for art, culture, community, and new-ness. It's a city that's not too big to drown among a million others doing what you dream of - if you have a dream I bet there's a creative way you can make it happen here and be supported by this awesome community. I've also learned to love our landscape - which I never thought was possible after living in northern MN;) We have great sunsets because of it.

Do you have any new adventures for Unglued that you’d like to share?

Well since I'm restless you can always know something new will be coming - I'd never do this if all we were going to be was where we are as a shop and annual event! After seeing how awesome Summer Camp has been going we'll have some after-school programs coming along with continuing on our next Late Night Craft Parties. Oh - and an adult summer camp next year!

What’s your favorite Bakeology cupcake flavor?

Margarita!

What is the Unglued Non-Profit Day?

Our Non-profit days happen a few times a year and are a way for us to give back to local non-profits by customers shopping (and thus continuing to support our artists as well!). 40% of the sales go to the non-profit that we feature.

Why do feel it’s important to give back to the community?

It's so important to give back. By giving back to our community it becomes that great circle of giving back to the community that is supporting us to stay here for the long-haul and being involved in something greater than we are at our little shop! It makes me appreciate doing retail more by knowing there are bigger things like Non-profit Days to allow us to donate and give by being an independent shop!