Desert Sage Trading Co. is Carson City’s newest eclectic, artisan market
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 1:22pm
Though Desert Sage Trading Co. opened in mid-august, owners Carmen Corina and Christopher Franklin decided they wanted to let the business grow organically.
The Trading Company offers everything from vintage items to clothing, to knick-knacks, to locally made art, and everything in between.
Corina started the business after her mother and grandfather passed away earlier this year.
"Before my mom passed away, she told me, 'you should have your own store,' because I had been selling things on consignment at different places," said Corina. "When she passed, I decided to go ahead and do it, because it was therapeutic for me. She also had stores while I was growing up, and it helped me feel connected with her."
They want to get more local artists in to sell their work, and they've begun hosting artist receptions in their gallery room, the last of which was held on Dec. 16.
They also want to host more art events from a variety of mediums.
For example, they want to host rock painting for "the Littlest Things," which is described as a non-profit that "creates random community events of kindness in the Carson Valley," focusing on animal rescue and service projects. One particular ongoing event they do for the community is a project where small rocks are painted and hidden around town for people to collect.
Most of Desert Sage's customers come from the grapevine, or simply from walking or driving by; something that the owners appreciate.
"We're going for a word of mouth approach to advertising," said Corina, "we want to grow organically, because that way, the people who do come in are people who would be interested the most in what we're doing here."
"We started with no budget at all," Corina said. "A lot of what we started with were things I had inherited, things I had been gifted, friends donated items, and then things that I picked up along the way. That's how it came to be eclectic, and we're also eclectic people. We want to be able to offer things to a wide variety of people."
Eventually they want to be able to donate to hospice, because Corina's mother and grandfather were both on hospice before they passed.
A "choose your charity" option is also in the works, said Franklin, where 10 percent of proceeds from a purchase would be given to a customer-chosen charity: from Advocates to End Domestic Violence to animal charities, to helping the wild horse herds in the community.
"We're both creative," said Corina, "but for the most part we're too busy to create our own art to sell, so we're giving a platform for artists to sell their own."
Most of the artists they have in their store just wander in, and the store always looking for more local artisans to promote.
Corina and Franklin are dedicated to continuing the growing art culture in Carson City by providing a venue to artists, musicians, and gatherings for artistic events.
Some art events they'd like to expand towards are projects like the rock painting events, Drink and Draw painting nights, music events, book readings by local authors, and more.
They currently have an artist on display through January and February, whose photography is displayed in the gallery.
"We're very interested in the idea of celebrating local artists," said Franklin. "If there is someone who is doing something, putting their art out there for us, and they're from within the community, we should support them. I feel very blessed being able to have a place to do that."
The Desert Sage Trading Co. is located at 2151 Lone Mountain Dr. behind the Cal Ranch. They are open Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
You can find out more by visiting their facebook page here.
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