Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Hyatt.
Katie, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Junking is in my blood. My grandfather was a frequenter of garage sales and thrift stores and is something he passed on to me. One of my favorite pastimes is estate sale hunting with my husband. We each get a thrill out of discovering beautiful things and refreshing them for new homes to be loved in a new light.
When I began Saint Signora, it was really just a shop for artists and calligraphers. A shop where artisans could purchase my handmade paper and unique tools for plying their trade. Originally, I had a few antiques in the shop that I stowed away from flea markets in Paris. Beautiful little trinkets I found to be unique, but relevant to the other pieces I was selling. The day I put these in my online shop, they sold out. Everything. That moment is when I knew I had something. A curated experience- a place for people to reimagine the old as the new. I went from being a calligrapher to an antiquarian and I felt like I finally found my stopping point in the road, my place.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
What is life without detours? For the longest time, I traveled this road of “career discovery.” I went from public relations to art school, to a graphic designer, to a wedding photographer, to calligrapher and finally, antiquarian. At each junction, there was frustration and self-doubt, but I kept at it doggedly. Knowing that each was leading me to my final destination. The skills I acquired allowed me to create an environment for my clients to live within, to help them understand how to repurpose these beautiful old things.
Saint Signora – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Saint Signora is a shop for the antiquarian, the one who loves pieces that summon nostalgia and procure dreams of the old world and picturesque. We curate timeless pieces and provide new havens for them to reside in. I love furnishing an environment for our clients. It gives them a sense of possibilities- of what they themselves can also achieve with our objects. We are are not yet a brick and mortar, and, in order to accomplish a similar experience as the tangible, I provide imagery that exudes a feeling of the bygone. Above all else, our shop is for everyone who would possess a piece of history.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think success is very fluid. There are definitely metrics to success and they change as we get older. What we defined as success at 20 is different at 30 or 35. You make your own rules and don’t let success define you. As I’ve gone through my many detours, I’ve learned to value the process rather than the end result.
Contact Info:
- Website: saintsignora.com
- Email: shop@saintsignora.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saintsignora/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saintsignora/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/saintsignora/
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
