Origin Stories: Dale & Blue

The places we come from shape us: our work, our perspectives, our values, even our aesthetics all reflect our points of origin. This month on Making It, inspired by Winona’s journey to her birthplace and namesake, Winona, MN, we’ll be exploring what home means to some of our customers, and how the places they’ve come from have shaped the projects they’ve brought to life on Squarespace.

Dale & Blue, a design studio based in Detroit, Michigan, is dedicated to creating small batch home goods. When looking for inspiration, founder Allison Hylant, who named her business after her grandfathers, recalls her childhood summers spent on Lake Michigan.

“Looking at my work now, I don’t think anyone would be surprised to learn that I grew up around water. Raised in Northeast Ohio I spent my summers in a cottage in Northern Michigan. My parents would pack all us kids (I have three brothers) into the car, the day after school got out and we would come back to Ohio just before the start of the school year. My affinity for the Great Lakes run deep, now when people ask about my hometown I often pause because I feel a greater kinship to Michigan than Ohio. Spending our summers on Lake Michigan was a constant adventure. We were encouraged to explore the beaches and freshwater springs, to swim and fish and boat and to just be curious about the world around us. People  are quick to point out how my work looks like water, or has a ‘coastal feel.’ That isn’t a quality I consciously went after when designing, but I am constantly reminded is it something I can’t escape. Those summer in Northern Michigan inform my work and myself probably more than I even realized. And to this day my most favorite place is walking the beaches of Lake Michigan.” – Allison Hylant, founder of Dale & Blue