Alder 2″ Pendant Necklace Kit

Seven people and two dogs staff our small studio workshop.  All human staff is paid a living wage and canine staff receives deluxe housing and organic food and treats.  Our human staff all work for Purl & Loop part time and your support for our business enables them to help support a growing family, purchase their first home (after 20 years of renting an apartment), pay for college tuition and fund creative dreams. Our longest serving team member is Audrey Pearl, our canine studio assistant.  Our other beloved canine studio assistant, Hank, retired from Purl & Loop in August 2017 and sadly passed away in April 2018.  Hank and Audrey Pearl served as loyal companions to Angela when she operated from her 120 sq ft home studio and they accompanied her when she moved to her first tiny studio at Art Square Studios in Houston.  They were thrilled when Purl & Loop expanded into one of the largest, 2 room studio spaces at Art Square Studios in January 2016.

Angela Laswell Smith, Founder with Audrey Pearl, Studio Assistant

Angela founded Purl & Loop in 2012 and serves as Creative Director.  She grew up in Springfield, Illinois, received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She currently splits her time between her Tulsa, OK home and Houston home.  When she is in Tulsa, she manages her 3 dogs (Audrey Pearl, Serena Sparkle, Bruce Willie) and 2 cats (Neiman and Ranger Sam) and spends a good amount of time gardening and cooking.  When in Houston, she spends loads of time working in the Houston studio.  Her best creative inspirations come from traveling in West Texas, specifically the Big Bend region.  When her mind is overactive with creativity, usually in the middle of the night, she reads mystery novels……..she averages about one per week.

Hector, Manufacturing Assembler

Hector has been with Purl & Loop since 2014 and he was our first employee when we operated out of a 220 sf space in our current building  He glues almost all of our looms.  He has an exquisite hand for detail and keeps us current almost all the time on all our loom orders.  When not working in our studio, he is hard at work at his other job in the produce department of a local grocery store.  Hector and his wife have one son entering his final year in college.

Missy Bosch, Studio Production Manager

Missy operates the laser machine, generates graphic design files from our ideas, fulfills orders, packages our products and travels with Angela to trade shows.  Missy is a collage artist and she brings those artistic skills to Purl & Loop. She is the designer and creator of a unique sewing cradle and she manufactures that product on a laser machine as well.  Her artistic sense and ideas are invaluable to the success of our company.

Martha Pirtle, Studio Assistant

Martha operates the laser and most recently implemented our materials and inventory management system which she wil continue to maintain.  She also makes many of our product samples.  When Martha is not working in our studio, she is either working at a downtown Houston bar or she is cosplaying characters from League of Legends.  She makes costumes that bring her favorite League of Legends characters to life.  She is developing quite a reputation for her skills and we are enjoying watching her popularity grow as she travels across the globe participating in ESports trade show events.

Jonathan Arriola, Studio Assistant

Jonathan is a student at University of Houston studying computer science.  He varnishes all of our wood and runs our laser machine.  He also helps us with the Houston International Quilt Festival and is fantastic at running our cash register at shows.  He is the first in his immediate family to attend college and we are proud to help him with schedule flexibility so he is able to maintain an “A” average in his major.

Leslie Grubbs, Studio Assistant

Leslie joined us in October 2017 to do some temporary work but we just could not let her go!  Leslie’s amazing brain tracks all of the materials and components we use for packaging and she makes certain we have everything we need to fulfill all of our orders.  In addition, she organizes and arranges our studio and work areas to ensure we work efficiently and utilize our small space to its full potential.  Since summer 2018, Leslie has been handling all of our order fulfillment and invoicing.