Anthology is located at 218 State Street in Madison, Wisconsin, within sight of the State Capitol. Co-owners and sisters Laura and Sachi Komai opened the store in March of 2008 after deciding to embark on the adventure in November of 2007.
Regular store hours are Monday through Saturday 11 am - 7 pm and Sunday noon to 4 pm. Wisconsin winters are cold and dark and not many people come out at night. Winter hours are in effect from 12/26 through 2/28: Monday through Saturday 11 am - 6 pm and Sunday noon to 4 pm.
The focus is creativity: items created by Laura and Sachi, and their Dad including: photographs, photo collage, quilts, table runners, pencil drawings, wax collage, bead and button bracelets, cards, altered books,aprons, embroidered baby shirts, origami crane ornaments, Polaroid transfers, paper collage/card packs; items created by other local artists and available for sale by consignment including: mosaic flower pots and picture frames, clutches, photographs, cards, button bracelets and picture frames, magnets, tote bags; supplies for creating including sheets of paper, blank note cards, rubber stamps, twinkling H20s watercolors, fabric, Amy Butler patterns; instruction and inspiration in the form of art and craft how-to books, craft parties, art demonstrations and workshops; and other inspiring products including StoryPeople books, Art & Life publication, Papaya art prints, sweet Story Pictures & more.
We send out an email newsletter about once a month featuring upcoming events and new arrivals. If you'd like to be added, please send us an email: Anthology@tds.net. We'll probably send out a postcard mailing once or twice a year; to be added to that list, send us an email with your mailing address.
The store is furnished with old suitcases, window panes and dressers scrounged from basements and garages, with quilts and books and other products peeking out from open drawers. The ceiling is painted a speckled light blue with royal blue birds flying around. One wall is a robin's egg blue and the other wall is a soft green with a red accent. There is an old farm table toward the back of the store where art projects are usually underway and/or supplies are available for playing. We tried to make it warm and charming and hope you can stop by for a visit someday.
We will happily ship things out to you. We do have an Etsy shop but can only list supplies or things that Laura or Sachi have made. This excludes many things that you might otherwise see if you visited us at 218 State Street. Stock does also change quickly; many of our artist creations are one-of-a-kind, though there might be something similar to what you saw in person or in a blog post or photograph.
For those of you who can't make it to Madison, we don't want you to miss out completely. There are pictures of items in the photo album things for sale at the store or on our Facebook albums, or perhaps you saw something on your last visit, or heard about something from a friend. You may contact us by phone (608-204-2644) or email (Anthology@tds.net) to arrange shipping and payment details. Since many items are one-of-a-kind, availability is ever-changing and something pictured may no longer be available. Best thing is to email us with requests for more information about specific products and I can send you descriptions and photos of what we have in stock (button bracelets are a prime example: I have yet to see any exact duplicates).
Our phone number is 608-204-2644.
