Sorry for my absence from the Local Lens the last 2 weeks. Memorial Day always wraps me in a project that’s all consuming. This one however, stretched into the following weekend. Touching on projects, this week’s featured business tackled an equally grandiose dream.

Artisan, Lisa Bystrak was born with talent and ingenuity. You can always find her doodling amazing pieces of art while chit chatting on the phone or coming up with quirky one-liners she eventually transfers onto some oddity that you or I would NEVER think to salvage from the basement. One day, a friend visited Lisa in her shop in downtown Owego, NY carrying a magazine showcasing re-purposed Silos. There it was… the project that consumed Lisa’s creative energy.

She sold the idea to her husband, Martin and together they hunted down old silos in the countryside of New York State to dismantle and reconstruct as a brick & mortar for Lisa’s imagination. In the image below, the delicate earrings are vintage metal boxes she stamped out and adorned with pearls and crystals. The other images are just as unique, but you have to visit the Silo at Farmer Browns in Apalachin, NY to inquire from the artist herself!

With the help of a few friends and their children, the next thing you knew, Lisa was filling the Silos with her very own re-worked vintage jewelry or found treasures from closets, basements and such. She also carefully chooses American-made indoor/ outdoor home decor and bath and body products for men and women to fill the rustic shelves of the Silo.

She named the business, Rusty and Jewel, founded on the imaginary story of a young married couple living a “lovely make do Life” during the Depression Era. She comments, “they could be your parents or grandparents making do with what they had at that time.” Rusty and Jewel is a lifestyle shop within the Silo inspired by our families and their history, their achievements and the deepest gratitude for their sacrifices.

Interested in knowing more about Rusty and Jewel or perusing through the Silo? June hours in the Silo at Farmer Browns Marketplace are Monday through Saturday 10 to 6pm and Sunday 11 to 5pm. Lisa is always behind the desk creating Thursday through Sunday. If you want to catch an online glimpse of her products, click any of the links throughout this post to view Lisa’s social media or send her a direct message. Buyer beware… she has contagious creative energy!