Featured Retailer of the Month
Right out of college, Karissa Masse opened her own pottery business in 2001, sharing a studio with another artist on Seavey Street in North Conway Village. She also taught art at Fryeburg Academy in nearby Fryeburg, Maine.
As their business grew, Karissa and her partner started looking for commercial space to buy and, as luck would have it, the then-owners of the North Conway League of NH Craftsmen (LNHC) Fine Craft Gallery decided that they wanted to sell their business.
Karissa, now with a young son, had been planning to put him in day care and continue teaching art at Fryeburg Academy, however, when the League’s headquarters in Concord, NH, decided that the building should be sold with the business, Karissa and her partner decided this was the opportunity they had been looking for. That was in 2006.
As a toddler, her son was a fixture in the store, from helping at the jewelry display cases to actually checking customers out!
Karissa bought out her partner in 2015, expanded the store, and renovated to enlarge the studios downstairs. Prior to the pandemic, she hosted numerous craft classes including basket weaving, silk dying, stained glass, and pottery, but for now the studio concentrates on pottery, with seven pottery teachers contributing to the program.
Pottery classes are held in the gallery’s “Creative Studios,” fall through spring.
A significant amount of Karissa’s business is now online. Starting during the pandemic, online sales have continued to grow every year. Jewelry is probably her biggest seller, with her huge selection from at least 50 jewelers. Pottery is a big seller, too.
The North Conway LNHC Fine Craft Gallery has been promoting hand made fine crafts since 1932. New artists are juried every year, as others retire, and much of what is sold in the store is one-of-a-kind.
“It’s wise to be impulsive when shopping here,” advises Karissa, “because so much of what we carry is one-of-a-kind. What you see and love today might be gone next week, never to return.”
The gallery has a wide selection of hand crafted jewelry.
At the North Conway LNHC Fine Craft Gallery, you can find lots of fabulous handmade gifts across multiple mediums, for your loved ones, and authentic keepsakes made by NH artisans.
