about
Meet the Owner
KORI THORNTON
I am a mom of two young grade school boys who are a year and a half apart. Before my youngest entered Kindergarten, I was a full-time stay at home mom. My days spent with them were full of adventures in the yard, fields, garden, kitchen, woods, barn and lake. We worked and played with our hands every day of every season. And all those years helped lay the foundation for Cedar Valley Design.
As the daughter of a farmer, I learned early on the value of hard work. You get what you put out. The harvest is for the workers. I pray my boys will know the same and God will also direct the work of their hands.
The Idea
Cedar Valley Design started in the summer of 2019 in the farm country of rural Indiana where I live with my husband and two boys. I was nearing the end of finishing the top of a walnut kitchen table my husband and I were building for our new home, when I had a thought. “I wonder if the resin I’m using to fill in these deep knots could somehow translate into wood and resin earrings.”
Thinking I had just invented something, I quickly did a web search to only humbly discover the opposite was true. Many great woodworkers had already turned out these kind of pieces. But I still felt like I was on this special assignment. So I began in January 2020. For almost one year I messed up more times than I got it right. But I never quit. I was ready to will my vision into existence, whether I had the skills or not. That relentless cycle of getting it wrong and then coming back to my workbench to try again was where I truly learned. It is how I came to find my unique process and style.
The business name comes from the land that we live on. My family and I treasure the land that we get to care for and call our own. We are also deeply rooted in where we come from. Cedar Valley Farms gives birth to Cedar Valley Design – a great reflection of God’s promises.
Much of the wood used is Parke County timber. If it is not, it either came from my Grandad’s woodshop, our remnant bin from projects past, a good friend, or a special story or place. Every pair of earrings is uniquely its own. No two will ever be the exact same.
The Logo
This cedar tree lives in our pasture and is the face of Cedar Valley Design. My sister-in-law did a quick and impressive sketch of the cedar, and it immediately became the original logo stamped on every earring card. Today, you will find an updated logo that is branded onto leather. That logo sits top and center over all these pages.
What’s so special about this tree? Not much to be honest. My husband picked it out as one that would draw well. I, at first, thought it was underwhelming, average and kind of shaggy. Not one to spin a whole design off of.
But then it came to life after my sister-in-law text me her sketch.
Folks, that is wood and resin work. At least to me it is. I head to my workbench, grab ordinary wood scraps, use regular colors and make simple cuts. Much of the time it does not look like anything is going to turn out real pretty.
But after time, hard work and special attention I really end up with something. Something that is unique. Something that stands out.
Live Tree, Sketch, First Stamped Earring Card, Today’s Branded Logo