Westfield Woman Creates Handmade Hats to Sell on Etsy

If you walk down to the workspace of Marion Schwartz you will meet, Maribel, Keaton, Lilah, Aspen and a handful more, but these are not a group of women that help Schwartz create her hats, they are the names of the many different hats she makes for her Etsy shop, Joy Design Inc.

A former interior designer, Schwartz is accustomed to creating beautiful things, but in the past four years she has been getting a rush from making handmade hats.

“I like the instant gratification of it,” she explained.

If you visit the workspace in the basement of her Westfield home, where she has lived for 24 years, you will find boxes and drawers filled with findings collected from her travels across the world with her husband.

She pulled out a blue bead from Venice, some others from a recent trip to Australia and one of her favorite reclaimed vintage hats from New Orleans that was the first seller on her Etsy shop.

Although Schwartz has been working on these hats for the past four years, it was not until Oct. 16 her Etsy shop officially launched. Now, she has a hefty inventory that she is ready to sell.

When asked how she turned to creating hats after designing, curating antiques and knitting sweaters, Schwartz said, “I love hats, I wear hats. It just kind of turned into hats.”

There are several categories of hats on her shop; the Couture Millinery hats are those that she constructed completely herself, while vintage reconstructed hats are vintage hats that she found and then applied all the details to. Also, you’ll find ensembles, which include a hat and scarf sold together, fascinators, headbands and combs, as well as bridal headwear, sashes accessories.

There are two actual women who do help her run her shop and they are Marie Mayer and Caitlin Fitzpatrick. Schwartz has worked with Mayer for 18 years and refers to her as her right hand woman. Fitzpatrick recently came on board to assist with social media and also modeling. You will see Fitzpatrick's face beneath the hats on the Etsy shop.

The products range in price from $65 to $440. More elaborate hats that are handmade will be at the higher end, while smaller items such as combs and sashes can be found for under $100.

On Black Friday, the shop is offering a special release of their “Cameo” headband that will cost $45. The price will be available throughout the weekend.

“We felt it was an attainable price point,” Fitzpatrick said. Grab a sneak peek of ‘CAMEO’ in the photos.

Since Joy Design Inc. loves naming their products, they have decided to take the decision of naming to the public. On Monday, they announced on their Facebook page that starting on Dec. 4, people will have the chance to name one Schwartz’s newest hats.

The winner will be selected at random to receive a $50 credit and free shipping. However, the names cannot duplicate any current products, so be sure to check the shop. Complete rules will be announced on Dec. 3 and the contest will end at midnight on Dec. 8 with the winner announced on Dec. 9.

Schwartz initially launched Joy Design Inc. as her freelance interior design company when she decided she no longer wanted to commute into Manhattan and wanted to spend more time with her son David and later her twins, Zachary and Sari, who are now all adults and to travel with her husband. Her son, Zachary,  who is in an MBA program at Rollins College for Entrepreneurship, actually suggested to his mother that she should start selling on Etsy. He's a partner in an e-commerce store, PortlightLLC.com.

Visit Joy Design Inc. on Etsy to see Schwartz’s creations. Custom orders are available.

Joy Design Inc. is also on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.