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“The
fairies choose you”
––
Kathryn Swenson, president and chief fairy officer of Gnomenculture®
Once upon a time, in the 1950s, a fanciful dreamer named Kathryn Swenson
stumbled upon the mystical world of fairies, pixies and gnomes in
the damp forest behind her Bellevue, Wash., home. She just knew there
was something magical tittering in the plants and smiling in the trees.
Today, a grown-up Kathryn will still say the pixies are hiding and
dancing, causing mischief and getting into trouble. She’ll also
say the fairies chose her to create tiny magical homes and landscapes
where they could frolic and feel at home. Now the fairies have finally
gotten their wish. Here’s how it happened.
One night in the mid-1990s the fairies woke Kathryn from her sleep
with the idea for a miniature garden –– a tiny landscape
in human gardens of all sizes where sprites could live. Of course,
thought Kathryn who had become an avid gardener and was a lifelong
artist and designer, I will create a tiny world for the fairies
and for humans who delight in small and precious things. And
with that, the idea behind The Fairy’s Garden®, the first
collection of miniature houses and accessories for outdoor gardens
–– was born.
Kathryn’s first miniature landscape took shape in the courtyard
of her Wayzata, Minn., home. She carefully selected limestone shards
to make tiny fairy paths, found small fairy-sized chairs and tables
to adorn the garden, and even created a small babbling brook for the
fairies to splash and play. There was nothing she loved so much as
to create a small world and landscape it, and soon she discovered
that others –– particularly adults –– loved
it too. Visitors to her house returned again and again to see the
ever-growing and changing miniature landscape. Even prestigious garden
tours wanted to include Kathryn’s miniature world on their routes.
Soon Kathryn started to think of gigantic possibilities for her miniature
gardenscapes. What about incorporating magical fairy cottages
with tiny twinkling lights? she thought. Or a bench for fairies
to sit after a night of mischief? Or an old mossy staircase for them
to walk up? Kathryn scouted the marketplace for just the right
pieces –– but she couldn’t find anything that was
just right. That was when Kathryn knew that she would have to create
her own houses and little fairy accessories for her small garden.
She knew that if she loved her small world, chances were that other
imaginative gardeners would, too.
That’s why, in 2001, Kathryn began designing her own fairy garden
pieces that she could share with others. She created a gorgeous Cotswold-style
cottage and mythical pets like the Bunnyfly, little birdbaths for
little frogs to live, tiny decorative obelisks and many other accessories.
It wasn’t long before she had designed a whole set of small
pieces, and together with her kind husband Jack Swenson, Kathryn incorporated
Gnomenculture® –– maker of The Fairy’s Garden
–– in January of 2002. Today The Fairy’s
Garden is pioneering the trend of miniature gardening –-
a hobby for people of all abilities in gardens of any size. The fairies (and their friends the humans)
are very happy.
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