Those Who Held Us First

I called my grandmother on a Tuesday afternoon and asked if she would model for us. I knew she would say yes, but I didn't expect how much I could hear her happiness through the phone. The joy of being asked.

The photoshoot concept came from somewhere instinctive. Hands. Three generations—my grandma's, my mom's, and mine. We called it Those Who Held Us First. The people who hold us shape the way we eventually hold everything else. The way we hold a cup in the morning. The way we hold space for the people we love. The way we hold ourselves together when things get hard.

On the day of the photoshoot, the story was already in our hands before we started.

The creased hands of my grandma from a lifetime of tailoring other people's clothing, and still making ours. She hems our pants, knits us sweaters, always has something she's working on. The rough, dry hands of my mom, who still asks if we've eaten, if we're warm, if we've had enough water. I am a full adult. She doesn't care. And then there are my hands, soft and unmarked, and I understood looking at theirs how much life I haven't lived yet.

I watched my mom watching her own mom get giddy. Then found myself giddy. This is a special kind of happiness that comes from seeing someone you love be happy.

We ended our day around a table with cups of rooibos steeping. We made this campaign to honor Mother's Day. But what we actually made was a memory, the kind that gets quieter and more valuable with time.

♦

To celebrate Mother's Day, our Mixed Assortment box is available online for the first time. Each gift comes with a personal letter written by you, tucked inside a hand-poured, wax-sealed envelope. Not just a gift. A keepsake.