Jóhanna Methúsalemsdóttir, Kria

Jóhanna Methúsalemsdóttir is co-owner of Kria, a stunning retail location on Main Street in Margaretville, New York in the historic Galli-Curci Theatre. The Kria retail store featured a curated selection of Kria designs from a decades-worth of collections and some one-of-kind pieces surrounded by sustainable creativity that inspires them.

Kria

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Is Kria currently open? Are you online only?

Unfortunately, the Kria store on Main Street in Margaretville closed indefinitely on March 16th. Paul (husband and partner) and I have used the time since to expand our online store by making many of the artisans and goods in our retail store available with our jewelry. This gives people who’ve not had the chance to visit us in person an experience to enjoy. And, it meant refreshing the site design with the chance to work from afar with accomplished photographer and new friend, William Hereford, who lives in Andes! He drove by the store and documented it for us to share.

Jóhanna’s experience with a ritual, routine or recipe during the pandemic

Designing and making new jewelry is meditative and has long been my happy place. It helps me to think and daydream which calms me down. I’m not really known for my patience, but the collection I’m making involves tangling and crocheting chain together as well as beading in a sort of organized chaos which challenges this. Our home studio is where I’m always accumulating materials like chain, castings and beads as well as incomplete, partial and one-off designs. Now, I’m surrounded by them all with the ability to reconsider them together. We live way up on our mountain, so the view down the length of our valley and the sense of space is very important for this.

Why does it mean a lot to you during this time?

The biggest challenge can often be finding time to experiment and that is no longer the issue, so I can take these ideas as far as I choose and that’s empowering when little else is right now.
I crave routine, but it’s healthy to break old ones and stimulating to create new ones. All of it gives me the peace of mind to be present for my family and friends going through the same.

Is there anything you’d like to share about your wishes for the future or what you have learned during this crisis?

I am endlessly grateful for the space we have up here and count my blessings. I appreciate and miss my friends and family more then ever and I’m eager to spend more time with them in the future than in the past. I will certainly take less for granted. Many friends and my eldest daughter and their partner in NYC have been stuck in apartments for over a month. I can walk to our studio, visit our store, and safely hike right out our door. We considered all of this when we moved our family here but I feel fortunate nonetheless. I imagine we’re all learning things about ourselves right now.