Friends, I’ve been looking through old photos and reminiscing about CMD in the early days. My heart gets all warm and fuzzy thinking about this wild journey full of twists and turns. It’s hard to believe that more than two decades have passed since I first took a leap that changed everything for me and CMD.

Back in 2005, I was working out of my apartment, making jewelry in my Hayes Valley bedroom on just a regular old desk. It was a scrappy little setup, but it was mine. Around that time, I went to Hilary Williams’ barbecue, where I met Eden Stein. We chatted about the maker scene in San Francisco, local retail shows and what it meant to get a small creative business off the ground.

Just a few weeks after we met, Eden reached out to tell me she was opening a collaborative gallery called Secession Art & Design in San Francisco’s Outer Mission neighborhood. She wanted to know if I’d like to rent a little “cubicle” in the gallery where I could make my jewelry and sell my wares, with the gallery open to the public like a traditional brick-and-mortar shop.

Was I interested? Are you kidding me?! I was STOKED. The concept of Secession was simple but brilliant, a true maker’s dream. Artists could create in their own spaces and share their work with the world right out front. I had a feeling this could be the beginning of something much bigger and, maybe, just maybe, help put CMD on the map.

I remember calling my mom to tell her about it. I felt like a kid on Christmas. I couldn’t believe this was happening! I was over the moon, but at the same time, also slightly terrified. The rent was $400 a month, which felt like such a huge stretch for me back then. I rattled off all my worries over the phone: What if I can’t make rent? What if no one buys anything? My mom, in her steady and encouraging way, told me to just go for it and reassured me that she’d help me out if I couldn’t make rent.

I called Eden back and signed a lease shortly thereafter. I’ll never forget that within the first week, I had generated enough sales to cover the rent. The space paid for itself almost immediately, but even more importantly, it opened the door to an entirely new world and gave me the confidence to keep moving forward. For the first time, I really started to feel like a business owner with a true home for my work.

That space at Secession wasn’t just a studio or a storefront. It became a community. Ary, who many of you now know as one of the beating hearts of CMD, started working with me around that same time. We were cramped into my tiny cubicle, sometimes working back-to-back while packing orders on a folding table.

We were surrounded by other makers, artists and dreamers, and together we became part of a growing creative movement in San Francisco. Looking back, CMD was right there during the maker wave that was beginning to spread across the Bay Area and beyond. Secession gave me more than square footage. It gave me a community, visibility and proof that there were people who connected with what I was making.

That first leap of faith, saying yes to a studio I wasn’t sure I could afford, taught me something I’ve carried with me ever since: little risks open big doors. Every milestone CMD has reached since then has been built on that same foundation of trust, community and the willingness to say yes even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed.

From One Creative Community to Another

Secession was only one chapter, but it changed the direction of everything that followed. Eventually CMD grew into our own San Francisco storefront on Valencia Street, and years later I made another enormous leap by bringing the business east to Asbury Park.

Today, I feel that same spirit thriving in The CMD Shop & Studio. The surroundings have changed, the business has grown and my work has evolved in ways I never could have imagined back in that tiny Secession cubicle. But the parts I value most are remarkably similar: making things with my hands, connecting with people, collaborating with other creative humans and building community around the work.

In 2025, we celebrated 20 years of Colleen Mauer Designs. Looking back at these photographs now, I’m struck by how impossible it would have been for the version of me worrying about that $400 rent payment to imagine where that one yes would eventually lead.

There have been plenty of bigger risks since then, but I think this was the one that taught me I could take them.

More than twenty years later, I’m still learning the same lesson: you rarely know which seemingly small decision will open the door to the next chapter. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut, say yes and walk through it.

With love and gratitude,
Colleen

© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: September 24, 2025
Updated: August 26, 2026